TRANSDISCIPLINARY

E-JOURNAL

Volume 1 Number 1

APRIL, 2014

(ISSN 2312-7147)

Transdisciplinary E-journal (TEJ)

The Inaugural edition

DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the University of

Venda.

COPYRIGHT

This publication is intended to serve as a resource for researchers and practitioners.

Readers are free to make a limited number of copies of articles for non-profit

educational purposes.

PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERITY OF VENDA

University of Venda

P/Bag X5050

THOHOYANDOU

0950

Tel: 0159628236/8470 Fax: 015 962 8858

ejournal@univen.ac.za

Website: www.univen.ac.za

Editor: ejournaleditor@univen.ac.za

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE

Professor VO Netshandama, Community Engagement (Convener)

Professor E Ekosse, Director Research

Professor N Potgieter, Department of Microbiology (School of Mathematical and

Natural Sciences)

Professor J Francis, Institute for Rural Development

Professor M Makgopa, School of Human and Social Sciences

Professor P Bessong, School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences

Mrs P Lekuta, Department of Mercantile Law (School of Law)

Mr T Dzaga, Director Communications and Marketing

PANEL OF REVIEWERS AND ADVISORS

Professor Vukor – Quarshie, Department of Criminal and Procedural Law (School

of Law)

Professor JA. Smith, Henry L. Kinnier Professor of Environmental Engineering.

Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering. University of Virginia

Professor A Olukoga, Department of Public Health (School of Health Sciences)

Professor EK Oseifuah, Department of Accounting and Auditing (School of

Management Sciences)

Professor NJ Vermaak, Department of Public and Development Administration

(School of Management Sciences)

Prof D Barry, Department of Animal Science, (School of Agriculture)

Dr P Kaburise, Department of English (School of Human and Social Sciences)

Dr P Mudhovozi, Department of Psychology (School of Health Sciences)

Dr KN Phalanndwa, Institute of Proof reading and Editing

Dr P Mativandlela, Research Manager: DST-NRF Centre in IKS

Dr PK Chauke, Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness (School of

Agriculture)

Dr A Samie, Department of Microbiology (School of Mathematical and Natural

Sciences

Dr NS Nethengwe, Department of Geography (School of Environmental Sciences)

Dr AP Kutame, Department of Professional Studies (School of Education)

Dr HN Mutshaeni, Department of Curriculum Studies and Education Management

(School of Education)

Mr SJM Kaheru, Institutional Science and Maths Education (School of Education)

Ms M Mulaudzi, Director Library

CONTENT

Foreword

Professor P Mbati 1

Editorial

Professor VO Netshandama 4

Academic and socio-economic variables in tertiary success 7

Kaburise P

Equity funding for quality education in South African’s basic education system

Mashau T and Tshivhase-Phendla T 23

Photovoice as a participative method in the understanding of community issues related water 39 Samie A, Meliko M and Siaruli HS How community stakeholders regard the role of home-based caregivers in their Municipality 59 Mashau NS, Mudau MJ, and Netshandama VO

The Reduction of Microcystin congeners in Raw Water Source with the use of

Ceramic Water Filters 77

Mulaudzi DA and Gumbo, JR

The Value of IKS in Higher Education in the 21st Century 106

Seleti Ngalaba Yonah

Editorial policy

Transdisciplinary E-Journal (TEJ) is peer-reviewed and refereed multidisciplinary

journal devoted to publishing across disciplines. The primary aim is to provide an

intellectual platform for graduate students and the research community. The journal

is devoted to building publishing capacity to academics and postgraduate students

including postdoctoral researchers and community partners. The journal publishes

papers in four broad areas namely research, practice-based initiatives and

snapshots which should showcase the rich variety of knowledge, experience and

impressions by all stakeholders in community-university collaborations.

TEJ is published bi-annually by the University of Venda. The views expressed by

the contributors are not necessarily those of the editorial team. Transdisciplinary

journal accepts no responsibility or liability for any plagiarism committed.

Transdisciplinary journal subscribes to the policy of open access.

Editorial requirements

a) Submitted articles may not be under consideration elsewhere and should not

have been previously published. Copyright for articles published in the E-

Journal will be retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the

journal.

b) Articles should not exceed 7000 words in length including references and should

use the Harvard style of referencing as outlined below.

c) Articles should be in South African English. Consideration will also be made for

articles written in African language. To maximize the readership, articles

originally written in African languages should be translated to English.

d) Accepted articles will be edited to journal style. All articles must be

accompanied by an abstract of up to 300 words and a list of up to six key words.

e) After an assessment of the paper‟s suitability for publication in the E- Journal,

the editors will send research articles electronically to three referees, who will

decide whether to recommend rejection or publication with or without changes.

i. Authors and reviewers remain anonymous.

ii. Accepted articles, when in final form, are assigned to an issue of the

proposed E- copy edited and formatted for publication.

f) On the date of publication, the issue will be announced and subscribers notified.

Submission Format

a) Please use the typeface „Arial‟ throughout your article.

b) The main text of submissions should be typed in 1.5 spacing in a font size of

12pt.

c) The text should be justified on the left margin only (not justified on the right).

d) Use a double space after full stops and other punctuation.

e) Do not put a space in front of a question mark, or in front of any other closing

quotation mark. The beginning of a new paragraph should be indicated by a

space made by a double carriage return (not an indent).

f) Insert page numbers on the bottom right hand corner of each page. Limit

headings to three levels.

g) The first level (for the title of the paper) should be 12pt bold. The second level

(for subheadings) should be 12pt bold, and if a third level is necessary use 12pt

underlined text. Capitalize the first letters of words in titles and headings.

Subheadings should be separated from the preceding paragraph by a space, but

do not put a space before the paragraph immediately following the subheading.

h) Footnotes, endnotes and appendices are to be avoided.

i) Please do NOT submit compressed files. Do not use any word processing

options/tools, such as strike through, hidden text, comments and merges.

Tables: All tables must be embedded in the manuscript near the first reference to

the corresponding table. Tables MUST be no wider than 13.5 cm.

Multimedia files: Any graphics that go in the paper must be submitted as separate

files. The highest quality master (for example, TIFF) is preferred. Additionally, the

graphics must also be embedded in the correct locations within the document.

Please note that any graphics created in Microsoft Word must also be submitted as

separate files. Filenames for figures must be clearly labelled as Figure 1, Figure 2,

etc., at the bottom of the figure, left justified, numbered in sequence, and must be

referenced within the text of the article. ALT tags will be applied to all graphics. The

default tag will be the figure caption supplied by the author. Authors should provide

tag text for any graphics used as links to audio or videos.

Referencing

All reference must be done according to Harvard method. Please check the

following before submitting the manuscript:

Ensure that:

all the references in the reference list are cited in the text

all citations in the text appear in reference list

the dates in the text and reference list correspond

the spelling of authors‟ names in the text and reference list correspond and

that all authors have the correct initials

1

Foreword

Peter Mbati

Vice Chancellor and Principal of the University of Venda

The publication of the Transdisciplinary E-Journal (TEJ), a peer-reviewed and

refereed multidisciplinary journal, heralds the establishment of an institutional

platform for academics and graduate students to publish and share their research

findings with their peers and interested stakeholders such as donors and

government. The Transdisciplinary E-Journal becomes one of the levers for driving

the University of Venda‟s strategic vision to be „globally aware but remaining locally

relevant to the advantage of communities it serves, locally, regionally and nationally‟.

It further responds to a growing need of university communities to improve on

academic writing, an important ingredient in our drive in the renewal of the academic

career in South Africa. The extent to which South Africans enjoy the benefits of

higher education as part of the fruits of freedom has been prescribed by historical

and structural inequalities in the distribution of resources and capabilities. The

launch of the TEJ addresses the need to create a balance in the making of a strong

academic cadre with the intellectual capabilities to make the university relevant and

competitive.

The capacity of our universities to be significant players in the transition from a

resource-based economy to a knowledge-based economy has become a

determining factor of its position among other knowledge generating institutions

globally. It is also clear that the ability of the university to generate knowledge is

influenced by an enabling environment characterised by easy access knowledge

infrastructure platforms and networks. The TEJ is one of the knowledge platforms

that provide an avenue for the university to enhance its ability to disseminate high

quality knowledge products and train highly skilled and competent graduates that

meet the needs of a developmental state. A developmental state within the

knowledge-based economies should be characterized by presence of critical mass of

knowledge workers and experts who are highly productive and have the ability to

leverage on their skills and scientific knowledge in developing appropriate tools and

interventions to significantly reduce and ultimately eradicate poverty, particularly in

the rural communities of our country. Institutions of higher learning, such as the

2

University of Venda have an obligation to produce the desired competencies and to

lead this crusade of improving the socio-economic status of our people.

A dynamic environment for knowledge generation and human capital development is

likely to contribute to the creation of a vibrant culture and democracy. By creating an

E-Journal the University of Venda is providing easy and free access to diverse

transdisciplinary knowledge sources to layers of society. Through the use of digital

technology, the TEJ will be accessible to all students, to the public at large and to the

communities. It will be an equalizer, empowering and inspiring our students and

communities to read and later on publish their own articles, projects or research

reports.

The Structure of the TEJ allows for a variety of publications. The research section is

essential for scholars working in multi-disciplinary and transdisciplinary research and

community engagement fields who want their work to be recognized by peers locally

and internationally. The research will promote works based on substantiated

scholarship deemed to contribute to new knowledge in the field. The Practice-based

section of the journal presents opportunities for excellence in the reporting and

reflection on engagement in practice. The articles chosen for this section

demonstrate rigorous and reflective analysis of professional practice-based

experience in several fields. The third section, Snapshots, showcases the rich

variety of knowledge, experience and impressions by all stakeholders in community-

university collaborations. Focus in this section will be on reflections of day-to-day

practice and experience, and will in future publications include portraits, impressions

and analyses, collaborative essays, edited interviews, oral histories and profiles.

TEJ opens up new trajectories for discursive engagement in the university. It will

provide space for the full freedom of expression by scholars, civil society through

community engagement reporting and snapshots that promote dialogue between a

variety of stakeholders including policy makers and academics and the private

sector. Consequently, the exercise of the freedom of expression will enhance

tolerance of opposing academic, social, political views and values. It is envisaged

that the TEJ will open the floodgates for active policy dialogues between different

3

interest groups associated with university education. The TEJ is thus positioned to

promote the free exchange of scholarly, community based practices and personal

and often subjective views. This is transformative and aspires to change the nature

of the discourses into multifaceted directions, where the university is not the only site

of knowledge production, where the university professors are not the only knowledge

generators, but will share the platform with barefoot professors from the communities

and their students. The TEJ will lead to the creation of easily and freely accessed

social networks. It will contribute to a new democratic ethos within knowledge

generation in the University. The TEJ aspires to contribute to the making of the

University of Venda as a knowledge hub bringing academia, the civil society,

government and the private sector in dialogue on the relevance of the university to

the community.

An essential role of the TEJ is in capacity building across the ranks of the university

and communities especially in research and writing. By providing a platform to

mentor, coach and support young and rising stars the TEJ will be a catalyst in

improving the quality of work at postgraduate level and help increase outputs of

honours graduates, research masters graduates, doctoral graduates and

postdoctoral fellows. The TEJ should thus contribute to making the University of

Venda transformative in its teaching and learning, ensure relevance to communities

and become competitive in knowledge generation. It must ensure that it produces

graduates who possess the intellectual and academic capabilities related to teaching

and learning, research and community engagement that are fundamental for

developing South Africa‟s universities.

4

Editorial

Vhonani Netshandama

It gives me a great pleasure to extend a word of welcome to the readers of the new

transdisciplinary E-Journal. We begin with this open issue to embody the intentions

of the transdisciplinary E-Journal to cut across disciplines and to mirror UNIVEN‟s

endeavour to be globally aware whilst remaining locally relevant – a university

embedded in its communities. The key indicators of relevance of UNIVEN could

easily be traced in the discussions in this issue which cover Education, Water and

Health as well as Indigenous Knowledge Systems. In all these areas, the authors

argue a consciousness on issues of inequality and the redress thereof, the quality,

quantity and the graduated-ness of the students we produce. In all these, the

interacting principle advocated is one of collaboration and working together to ensure

that Univen promotes the principle of substantive „justice‟.

The graduation rate in higher education institutions continues to be low despite the

many strategies that have been tried to date. There is often dart throwing between

the agents of change starting from basic education to the higher education sector.

Articles in this issue acknowledge that there is a need to work together in a

collaborative manner. Kaburise tackles the issues departing from experience in

extended degree programmes (ED) and argues that the programme approach

tended to be reductionist dealing with one or other aspect in isolation. The negative

effects of low SES on literacy can be ameliorated by a more holistic, systematic and

longitudinal interaction between HEIs and the pre-tertiary levels of the education

system.

As the 2015 Education for All and Millennium Development Goals deadline

approaches, the issue of equity funding has increased in importance. There is a

wealth of literature that correlates funding with the quality of education. It is also

argued that poverty and inequality will not be reduced if the quality of education is

low. Mashau and Tshivhase-Phendla raised the question whether the equity funding

mechanism for quality basic education is feasible, given the history of inequalities.

5

It is in the nature of being locally relevant that „we hear the community out‟ about

issues that matter the most to them. We have in this issue an article encouraging

community participatory methodologies in researching about water and health. On

one hand, Samie, Meliko and Siaruli outline how a photo-voice participative

methodology was employed to generate discussions between the community and

„scientists‟ from the point of view of community members. On the other hand,

Mashau, Mudau and Netshandama present the qualitative findings regarding how

community stakeholders regard the role of home-based caregivers in their

municipality. The burden of overcrowded hospital facilities and the associated less

than quality care is felt throughout the country, particularly in rural areas.

Community perspectives are crucial in this, given the promotion of Primary Health

Care programmes and the need for collaboration with home based care

programmes.

From problems to offering alternatives, Mulaudzi and Gumbo report on the

effectiveness of ceramic filters in reducing microcystins in raw surface. The majority

of rural communities rely on the freshwater bodies for their water consumption

without any form of water treatment. Research conducted form rural households

indicates that point of use water treatment is probably the most feasible in rural

communities. The ceramic water filter is composed of local raw materials, clay and

sawdust. There is a wealth of indigenous knowledge amongst local clay crafters

who made various forms and shapes of clay pots in the traditional way. This

provides an exciting opportunity for exchange between „scientists‟ and local

knowledge holders.

In communicating the value of IKS, Seleti is critical in the way universities have

positioned themselves to be leaders in advancing the IKS agenda in the country. He

argues that universities have not yet sufficiently engaged the IKS agenda as a

transformative tool for higher education. Borrowing from Visvanathan‟s concept of

cognitive justice, Seleti argues that the university‟s role in driving the IKS agenda is

synonymous with redress and justice. The concept of cognitive justice is based on

the recognition of the plurality of knowledge and expresses the right of the different

forms of knowledge to co-exist. Visvanathan argues that different knowledge is

6

connected with different livelihoods and lifestyles and should therefore be treated

equally.

This, the inaugural issue, outlines the complexities of the context within which the

post graduate students and researchers participate in the knowledge production

space and the unanswered questions providing opportunities for further research in

varying fields. The University, through this initiative, continues to supplement

existing strategies and vehicles for quality academic writing and responsible -

respectful research.

The realisation that academic writing as an art of organising thoughts cannot simply

develop in isolation prompted the idea of this publication. Providing space for post

graduate students to write and publish their work is an act of capacity building that

should enable them to analyse, assess, and improve thinking. It is a space where

they should develop the „intellectual virtues of intellectual integrity, intellectual

humility, intellectual civility, intellectual empathy, intellectual sense of justice and

confidence in reason‟.

The journal is devoted to building publishing capacity to academics and

postgraduate students including postdoctoral researchers and community partners.

The journal publishes papers in broad areas of research, teaching and learning,

community engagement and other forms of practice base initiatives. Through

collaborative portraits, the E-Journal also aims to display the bridges between

academics and policymakers more fully thereby articulating creative tensions

between theory and practice. In future issues, we have a line-up of exciting portraits

and research articles from graduate students in various fields.

7

Academic and socio-economic variables in tertiary success

Kaburise P*

Abstract

Various support strategies are available to lessen tertiary under-preparedness, and

the extended degree (ED) is one such strategy. The expected educational gains

from ED have not been as dramatic as was hoped. It is the contention of this paper

that the graduation rate in higher education institutions (HEIs) continue to be

unsatisfactory in areas like Limpopo Province, because EDs address, mainly, one

contributor to literacy challenges, academic factors, without a corresponding

attention to challenges arising from the socio-economic status (SES) of students. It

is acknowledged that variables comprising the SES of students are not, relatively, so

easily addressed as academic lacks, but in not according much attention to SES the

impression created is that attending to literacy needs only should ensure tertiary

success. This is a fallacy which has been proven by the continuing poor throughput

rates in HEIs. This paper argues that some of the negative effects of low SES on

literacy can be ameliorated by a more holistic, systematic and longitudinal interaction

between HEIs and the pre-tertiary levels of the education system.

Key words: Literacy, academic, socio-economic, variables, success, Limpopo

province, interaction

Introduction

All levels of South African education system are under scrutiny because of their

failure to give corresponding yield on the high investment made in them. Reasons

given for this, usually, are the non-graduating students‟ inability to make the

transition from secondary to tertiary levels of literacy arising from a gap between the

demands of secondary and tertiary levels of education. Research has shown that

contributors to tertiary - level literacy are from factors inherent to the students such

* Dr Phyllis Kaburise is a senior lecturer and a former ED programme coordinator at the University of Venda. Dr Mashau T is a lecturer at the Department of Curriculum studies and Professor Tshivhase- Pendla T is the former dean of the school of Education at the University of Venda Dr Samie A is a Senior Lecturer, Department of Microbiology- Molecular Parasitology and

8

as content knowledge and their SESs, and others from the teaching and learning

culture of the South African‟s HEIs (Calderon 1997, Fraser and Killen 2003).

Tertiary institutions in rural provinces can be classified as historically disadvantaged

institution (HDI). HDIs are typically marked by limited resources, certain kinds of

curricula and approaches to teaching and learning and tend to be educationally and

socially benevolent and accessible to the average student. Universities like

University of Venda (Univen) and University of Limpopo predominately have student

recruitment among “areas of structured and entrenched disadvantage” (Mda 2010).

Post 1994, the call for redress, the renewed wave of social consciousness, the

freedom of movement and the rise in the upward mobility of the urban blacks in the

early 90s have seen more diversity in the student populations in HEIs. This

massification of tertiary life has also seen greater diversity in the performance of

students establishing a correlation between social diversity, literacy levels and

success rates (Bhorat et al, in Mda 2010). This is a reflective paper which examines

the correlation between these factors and academic performance.

Of the nine provinces in South Africa, Limpopo is the fifth largest, with the highest

population of young people in the country. In 2001, children under the age of 15

accounted for approximately 39.4% of the Province‟s population, the highest in the

country (Statistics South Africa 2004). There are multiple implications of this, one of

which is the Province‟s high expenditure on all levels of education, particularly pre-

tertiary education. Provincial authorities‟ responsibilities usually start at the formal

education stage, from Grade R, leaving pre-primary schooling at the discretion of the

parents.

Most of the population of Limpopo resides in non-urbanised areas; 13.1% of the total

population lives in urban areas as compared to 55% for the rest of the country and

although Limpopo has demonstrated amplification in urbanisation of 2.1%, most

people still stay in non-urban environment (Statistics South Africa, 2004). Socio-

economic indicators measure, among others, income and literacy and skills levels of

a population on the Human Development Index. The socio-economic status of a

country is measured on a scale of 0 to 1 where an index close to 0 indicates low

9

levels of income and literacy. The index for Limpopo is 0.5, which although medium,

is lower than that of the general population of South African; in addition, 81% of the

economically active population earns less than R3200 per month. What this means

is that the student population of Univen comes from low literacy, low income families

who therefore have challenges meeting their basic amenities and making personal

investment in the education of their children apart from what is provided by provincial

and national authorities.

The Limpopo province is also characterised by under-resourced rural schools. A

study by Phurutse (2005) showed that there are major variations in resources

available to public schools in South Africa. While rich provinces like Western Cape,

Gauteng and the Northern Cape can afford to subsidise teaching and learning with

high school fees of up to R11000 per annum, for example, in certain schools in

Pretoria, parents and guardians of poorer provinces like Limpopo and Mpumalanga

have challenges with fees of R40 – R100 per annum (Bot et al. 2001; Phurutse

2005). A healthy school budget means sufficient educators, market-related wages

for experienced teachers and a conducive working environment for everybody. The

National Poverty Distribution Table which measures the levels of poverty of schools

classifies 27% of all schools in Limpopo as „very poor‟ lower only to schools in

Eastern Cape where 34% of schools are designated as „the poorest‟. Rich provinces

such as Gauteng and Western Cape have low percentages of poor schools – 7%

and 4% respectively (Phurutse 2005).

Naturally, inadequate funds means learners in rural schools show high learner-

teacher ratios. In 1996 DoE introduced the policy of rationalisation and

redeployment of teachers with the aim of creating a learner-teacher ratio of 40:1 in

primary schools and 35:1 in the high schools (Crouch and Perry 2003). National

studies have however discovered that schools in Limpopo, Eastern Cape and rural

KwaZulu Natal have the largest number of learners in their schools (Gordon, 1997;

Bot et al 2001) and in some extreme cases there were 65 learners in a class (Kanjee

et al. 2003). Educators in schools with low annual fees and large classes also have

longer formal contact hours. In the poorer areas, 60% of educators report having

formal contact hours of between 30-35 hours a week. The implication of many

contact hours is that the quality of teaching is affected as the work of the educator is

10

spread across grades; the workload demands on educators are greater, resulting in

educator ineffectiveness and stress (Phurutse 2005; Milner et al. 2008).

Under-resourced rural schools with high learner-teacher ratios usually mean

questionable teaching and learning which translate into under-prepared tertiary

students who either drop out or do not find their tertiary experience rewarding and

who need some kind of support. Academic intervention comes in various forms

arising from the non-uniform literacy requirements of the disciplines and cultures in

HEIs. Support models which gained prominence in the 1980s have evolved from the

remedial, bridging, foundation, autonomous, stand-alone approaches to the

integrated, holistic conception of support, all based on what is seen to be the cause

and an appropriate remedy for students‟ below-average performance (Street 1984,

2003)

A state-funded intervention in South African universities is the extending of degrees

by one year with the aim that this extra period will strengthen students discipline-

specific content and inculcate in them necessary tertiary cognitive behaviour. The

ED has a history not only as a reaction to the articulation gap but also as a means of

redressing the social, economic and political inequalities of the past. It was seen as

not only offering a once-off access but ensuing continuous support throughout a

student‟s stay at the institution hence predisposing the student to academic success.

The developmental nature of academic literacy is the justification for offering this

concept of support.

The desired transformation in tertiary success rate from the extended degrees,

however, has not been as remarkable as expected. Scott (2011) deliberating on

EDs acknowledges that they have improved equity of access; have, despite the still

high attrition rates, had some success in increasing the number of black graduates.

However he continues to admit that there are visible limitations to EDs as a general

panacea to tertiary education‟s woe and calls for a rethink of the concept of EDs. A

sentiment I share. It is the contention of this paper that EDs address mainly the

content lacks of literacy while other equally significant factors like, socio-economic

contributors, which are not focused upon, explain the un-dramatic gains in success

rates at tertiary level.

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Theoretical background

Transition into tertiary work is a complex process and a number of factors contribute

to the successful progression of these processes. These factors have come to be

broadly categorised as levels of students‟ content knowledge and SES.

Literacy is a multifaceted term and its presence and development are dependent on

a multiplicity of contributors delineated by the particular students under discussion

(ICAS 2002; Cliff 2003; Yeld 2003; Foxcroft 2004). Being academically literate is „a

way of being‟, a way of fitting into the environment; it is developmental and on a

continuum. Literacy is like climbing a ladder; the student commences at the bottom

of the ladder and progresses to the top. Certain hurdles have to be surmounted

along the way and as these occur, the individual‟s literacy skills are refined, moving

from the concrete to the abstract or progresses from functional to critical literacy.

Literature has also shown that differential literacy levels are just as determined by

socio-economic factors as they are by academic variables (Barry 2006). The

immediate reasons for lack of academic success is usually seen as content

challenges however impact studies have established that other contributors also

ensure success (Fraser and Killen 2003). These non-content contributors are

usually broadly grouped under demographic, social, psychological and the teaching

and learning milieu of HEIs (Eiselen and Geyser 2003; Cheesman et al. 2004). All

these variables therefore, must be taken into consideration in any discussions about

low success rates and intervention strategies in South African universities.

Discussing the demographic details of students entails examining variables such as

age, gender, language, population group, type of pre-primary and pre-tertiary

schools attended and literacy and financial status of the family (Cheesman et al.

2005). An age variable included in most studies of this kind, suggest maturity as a

factor in student success (McClelland and Kruger 1993). Studies have also shown

success can be related to gender, for example, in the Caribbean, male academic

underperformance can arise from factors such as socialisation practices

(Evans1997; Cheesman et al. 2005; Bhorat et al in Mda 2011). Furthermore,

12

statistics on the performance of the different population groups show a greater

percentage of degree non-completers among African males followed by the coloured

community (Letseka and Maile 2008; Bhorat et al in Mda 2011).

The home language of the student seems to have minimum impact on success

although proficiency in the language of instruction has been identified as a

determinant of success (Kaburise 2011). The language of instruction is the vehicle,

the medium for the concretisation of cognitive activities and proficiency and is an

indication that a student can handle the demands of tertiary studies (Boughey 2002).

Critical interrogation of an issue, convincing portrayal of self, problem-solving skills

and a reduction of powerlessness, hinge strongly on language competence. Those

of you familiar with the works of Cummins (1979, 1984, 2000) know that it is a

distinct type of language, cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) which

accesses tertiary studies, hence it is not language per se which is under discussion

here. Cummins‟ distinction explains the higher level linguistic demands made in a

context-reduced and cognitively more challenging discourse- creating contexts of

HEIs. Research has shown that there is a linguistic threshold in the language of

instruction below which academic success is at risk (Leibowitz 2004; Elder 1993,

2007).

Intergenerational literacy levels have received attention in discussions of SES

influence on success rates. Education is a cooperative endeavour, with the home

complementing the different levels in education. This is seen in the students being

able to discuss issues, academic or otherwise, comprehensively and cognitively with

somebody outside their immediate learning environment who would appreciate their

frustrations and triumphs (Fraser & Killen 2003). Lack of emotional support

experienced particularly by first generation scholars, increases their feeling of

isolation and bewilderment in not belonging to either world and reduces their

motivation levels (Simmons et al, 2005 in Cheesman et al, 2008). Some literacy in

the home and society creates a certain ambience forging a tie between students‟

background and the educational institution.

Students‟ psychological details also have a direct bearing on success. Psychological

factors is a collective list of attributes such as cognitive ability, self-efficacy and

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levels of learning anxiety, learning strategies, beliefs about knowledge and learning

and motivation levels. According to Piaget, cognition is the result of a complex

interplay between genetic, psychological and environmental factors (Low and

Edward, 1993). Development in cognitive functions is a result of assimilation and

accommodation of the daily experiences that one undergoes. These new

experiences are internalised or assimilated because they are compatible with ones

existing experiences or they „negotiate‟ with existing conflicting experience until a

common ground is found (accommodation) (Piaget 1978). Cognition is in a constant

state of flux enriched by the experiences one already has and new insights arising

from different exposures. For tertiary students who are exposed to a multiplicity of

experiences, the ability to interact with these stimuli is vital. Such ability is enhanced

from the diverse stimuli, usually available from environments associated with non-

low SES.

Self efficacy is a belief in oneself, despite the alien and daunting environment of

academia. It is students‟ self-knowledge that they can succeed in their articulated

goals if they persist and are committed to their studies. The cultural trauma from

academic and social articulation gaps results in low levels of learning anxiety if a

student has a positive self efficacy and although some stress is necessary to

galvanise one to greater academic heights, over- anxiety results in negative self

efficacy and can be debilitating; can result in discordant cognitive processes, low

task motivation, low performance and may even affect students‟ physical wellness.

Self-image is also linked to motivation levels which develop even more when a

student has been well advised about his/her choice of careers and the student is

aware that there is a high possibility that he/she will make it in the chosen career.

Learning strategies categorised as surface, deep and strategic is knowing how to

accomplish a task in the most effective and efficient manner (Entwistle 2000). A

study at Rand Afrikaans University as to why some students are „at risk‟ of failure

isolated, among others, study habits or level of diligence, language proficiency and

cognitive status as reasons for failure or success (Eiselen and Geyser 2003).

Closely related to learning styles is students‟ conception of what knowledge is and its

creation. An acceptance that knowledge is dynamic and is fore-grounded in our

14

relatively static cultural heritage and the ever-changing information world enable

students to recognise their role as challengers of the world status, creators of

knowledge themselves and this fosters independence of thought and reduces

student hopelessness and anxiety. Knowledge creation is an on-going process

affected mainly by the empirical evidence on which it is based. Knowledge does not

reside solely in an individual (lecturer or student, or authors) or in environments

(higher education institutions, countries) but is creatable by ordinary people.

Students‟ understanding of epistemology improves their critical literacy, making them

partners with the lecturers, their peers, researchers and writers and making learning,

stimulating and interactive.

Institutional cultural milieu cannot be ignored in a discussion of this nature. The

elitism of tertiary life is daunting for students whose way of life has been a small rural

school in villages. The greater the distance between these two worlds, the longer

and more traumatic the transition period is. Such students are suddenly confronted

by some students who take notes on laptops in classes, by lecturers presenting

information on overhead projectors and power points and who communicate for the

whole duration of the lecture in English. After that they are expected to do research

by either accessing information through the internet or through stacks of books

electronically.

Discussions

Students who have had pre-tertiary schooling in wealthy provinces, dissimilar to the

Limpopo province and have undergone the additional vetting to their matric

examinations through placement tests (for example, universities of Witwatersrand,

cape Town, Pretoria and Stellenbosch) seem to benefit substantially from the notion

of EDs. In other words, students from poor socio-economic background, with

moderated matric results and minimum non-academic support may not show similar

substantial gains. This is because, I believe, ED seems to address mainly one

dimension of literacy, academic, while ignoring the others. Any attempt to narrow

the concept of literacy and hence make content knowledge the sole determinant of

academic success is overly simplistic and is ignoring the fact that literacy

development involves a comprehensive transformation of the whole person. This

15

point is seen when one examines the academic implications of some of the

characteristics of the Limpopo province.

The fact that the province has a relatively younger population means a greater

burden on the population for the provision of pre-primary education. The positive

impact of pre-primary schooling on later academic success has been established in

a series of reports entitled „PISA in Focus‟. The reports note that school systems

that perform best are also those with more inclusive access to pre-primary

education. In fact, the length of time children attend pre-primary had measurable

effect before age 15. The report concludes by noting “widening access to pre-

primary education can improve both overall performance and equity by reducing

socio-economic disparities among students…” (Ward 2011). Hence a situation

where parents are unable to give their children such initial benefits has significant

negative impact on development of tertiary literacy. Studies on early childhood

education (ECE) in South Africa indicate that while over one third of urban children

had access to some kind of pre-primary activities readying them for formal schooling,

only 6% of rural child had similar opportunities (Padayachee et al 1994). This of

course will have an effect on the academic performance of students coming from

areas like Limpopo province.

Living in a non-urban setting with the level of human development index of Limpopo

province has both socio-economic and educational repercussions. In such an

environment, literacy-enhancing resources, activities, and opportunities are limited.

Rural communities are characterised by basic facilities and extras which promote

overall academic sophistication are usually lacking; there are no libraries, cinemas or

community educational events all aimed at the overall academic grooming of

learners. The importance of such resources cannot be over-emphasised; in

psycholinguistic literature, the impact of the social and home environment on

cognitive development has been well documented. Cognition and language

development do not take place in a vacuum, there is a dire need for comprehensible

input not only in the classroom but also from the home. The educational role of

television programmes, availability of different forms of print media, debating and

discussion sessions with parents and siblings, conducive learning space in homes

16

and the availability of a certain literacy-promoting ambience are some of the basic

ingredients of an academically supportive environment (Krashen 1998, 2003).

Rural schools with limited resources are also characterised by certain teaching and

learning practices. Urban provinces with higher pay structures for teachers are able

to attract more experienced teachers who can apply innovative, stimulating teaching

strategies which cognitively challenge the learners and which move them from

functional literacy to tertiary-like critical engagement with knowledge. Inappropriate,

non-challenging, non-stimulating learning practices like memorising and rote

learning, uncritical acceptance of facts, wholesale copying of facts, non-processing,

non-analysing and non-evaluation of texts and non-creation and non-ownership of

discourse are the order of the day. This point is also articulated by Cohen, et al.

(2003) when they note the profound effect of quality instruction in the class. Large

classes, long contact hours, teaching subjects for which one is not a specialist,

volumes of DoE-required assessment reports and administrative work, inadequate

salaries, negative working atmosphere and conditions are just a few of the stressors

identified as having an impact on the performance of rural teachers and students, in

a study by Milner and Khoza (2008).

Recent evidence shows that on the average, 70% of the families of the tertiary

dropouts surveyed are in the category of low socio-economic background (Maile and

Letseka 2008). The social and economic impact of funding challenges for tertiary

students is well documented. For students coming from rural backgrounds the

effects of stress from lack of money is equally felt on social and academic wellness;

HEIs are both social and academic entities and students need to fit into both.

The deliberations above clearly apportion considerable significance to both SES and

academic variables in tertiary success. In other words high SES and literacy levels

create an enabling setting for success. Of course, one may argue that for pragmatic

reasons SES influences have been de-focused for the relatively more remediable

academic consideration. In the mid-80s institutions obvious inability to impact on

SES factors saw a shift to examining HEIs as rather the barriers to student success

(Boughey and Volbrecht, in Griesel 2004). But de-focusing SES‟ negative impact on

literacy and success rates does not make them less influential or make them

17

disappear, hence because of the academic, social, economic, political and even

moral implications of leaving the situation un-rectified, a comprehensive solution

needs to be put in place.

Although some solutions to under-preparedness are relatively easy to find and

implement, for example, distribution of funds and upgrading of pre-tertiary schooling

(resources and teacher qualification) others call for more innovative practices. The

dichotomy between rural students‟ background and the elitism of tertiary culture can

be bridged by more conscious effort on the part of tertiary institutions to forge closer

ties with rural schools particularly at Grades 10-12. By this I do not mean the usual

highly published practice of „adopt a school‟ where HEIs take a rural school under its

wing, build a state of the art science and computer laboratories and visit these

schools, maybe once a year, to see the condition of these donations, or the

universities‟ recruitment drives or open days for learners to hear about the various

careers on offer and to see the layout of an HEI.

Rather what is called for here is for HEIs to interact very closely with rural schools to

ascertain the exact nature of the transition gap and come up with strategies even if it

means actually teaching to assist teachers to structure cognitively challenging tasks;

tasks which will extend learners‟ interaction with texts from the functional to the

critical levels of literacy (Kaburise 2011). During such interactions, inappropriate or

non-tertiary-preparing teaching and learning styles would be exposed and

discouraged to be replaced by the modelling of practices which will ease the

transition trauma and the articulation gap. Such lecturers can infuse rudimentary

tertiary practices like, e-learning, researching topics, presentation of information in

lecturing mode, speaking for a full period in English, practice in challenging authorial

power and helping learners create their own discourse based on empirical evidence

and experience, will all be of assistance to Grades 10 - 12.

The inadequacy of pre-service training for teachers has been the focus of numerous

discussions and hence will not be belaboured here. Suffice to say that rural teachers

are particularly ill-prepared for pre-tertiary teaching with poor content knowledge and

poor mastery of the language of instruction. This of course has a profound ill-effect

on the students‟ ability to achieve the required sophistication in English, the

18

language of instruction. The presence of these lecturers and their interaction with

the learners in English would serve as examples and motivation for rural teachers.

This calls for an investment by HEIs in high schools, in having a hand in closing the

transition gap for their potential students, in ensuring that high school teaching and

learning mirror the culture of the HEIs.

Although it can be argued that this recommendation is exactly what EDs are aimed

at, my point of departure is that this method of interaction is over a period of three

years (Grade 10 – 12) hence it allows for deep-level internalisation of these skills as

well as serving as a boost to learners self efficacy. It is one thing to offer support to

high school learners in their own environment in their normal mainstream activities

and another situation altogether to offer support to under-prepared students outside

of mainstream. Where the former enhances learners‟ confidence, improves their

grades and readies them for tertiary work, the latter is remedial in nature, hence may

foster marginalisation and psychologically not boost the student. In addition, the

numbers of students benefiting from EDs in the various HEIs are few whereas this

approach will be beneficial to all learners progressing to the final phases in high

schools. Opposition to the previously stand-alone one year tertiary remedial support

was because this type of support only guaranteed access but failed in providing

sustained long term support for students and this served as the rationale for EDs.

Hence providing support for teachers and learners for three years (Grades 10-12)

should provide the longitudinal, developmental orientation necessary to facilitate

lasting internalisation of practices.

Although this level of collaboration can negatively impact on lecturers‟ primary

duties, this would have to be balanced by the improved calibre of the next generation

of students. Furthermore, community engagement, the third leg of lecturers‟

responsibilities would have laid the grounds for involvement with partners external to

the universities.

Conclusion

Determinants of unsuccessful tertiary performance are both academic and socio-

economic. Academic challenges because of their very nature are visible and

measurable, hence tend to be subject of support initiatives like EDs. Socio-

19

economic variables are diverse and some are clearly not addressable by schools or

the government, however, they cannot be wished away but must also be addressed.

One way of doing this is for HEIs to interact very closely with schools to identify and

remove the articulation gap.

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23

Equity funding for quality education in the South African basic education

system

Takalani Mashau and Thidziambi Tshivhase-Pendla

Abstract

This conceptual reflective paper focuses on South Africa‟s provision of democratic

and equitable funding of education in her effort to provide equality and equity to

address the past inequalities. Before 1994 funding of the education system was

based along racial and ethnic lines. This situation was as a result of the larger

apartheid ideology which leant on the philosophy of divide and rule. With the dawn

of a democratic government in 1994, the new government amalgamated all

education departments into one department. Thus, several White Papers in

education were promulgated by parliament from 1995 which culminated in the

National Education Policy Act 27 of 1996 and the South African Schools Act 76 of

1996. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act 108 of 1996 preamble

says that, “… united in our diversity and we want to heal the divisions of the past and

establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental

human rights”. After 1994 when democracy was ushered in South Africa, there were

changes in funding education in South Africa, the question which this conceptual

reflective paper raises is, “Is equity funding for quality basic education in RSA

feasible, given the history of inequalities?”

Key words: Quality basic education, equity funding, inequalities

Dr Mashau T is a lecturer at the Department of Curriculum studies and Professor Tshivhase- Pendla T is the former dean of the school of Education at the University of Venda

24

Introduction

The salient feature of education in South Africa was the differential pattern of

education development for different groups along the lines of colour, race, class, and

ethnicity. While whites received a very high level of education, which was

comparable with the best in the industrialized world, nevertheless, black education

was characterized largely by an inequitable allocation of resources, overcrowded

classrooms, high dropout rates, and insufficient numbers of and poorly qualified

teachers (Tshivhase-Phendla & Mashau 2010). Against the background of

apartheid, the education system was divided into four main systems for four groups

that is education for Whites, Indian, Coloureds, and Africans. For the white

community, there was a system of free, and compulsory education, and for the black

groups, that is, Africans, Indians, and Coloureds, education was neither free nor

compulsory (Tshivhase-Phendla & Mashau 2010; Christie 1986; Enslin 1986).

Apartheid education was generally considered by blacks to be inferior and designed

to confine them to lower class occupations. There were differences even within

black education, that is, Indian and Coloured education systems were more

privileged to a higher degree than African education. These divisions served to

entrench separate development in all aspects of life in South Africa. Consequently, it

could be safely predicted that separate education could never have resulted in equal

development of all South Africans.

Administration and control of African education passed from provincial administration

in Natal, Transvaal, Orange Free State and the Cape Province, and from mission

churches, to separate Bantu Education Section in the Department of Native Affairs of

the Central Government. The results of the Bantu Education Act were profound and

subsequently endorsed racial differences in education (Hartshorne, in Lewis and

Lemmer 2004, p. 69). It is understandable that Bantu Education reinforced the

apartheid ideology of the past regime and was enshrined in the basic and essential

human right, that is, education. There is probability that education continues to

create disparities given the historical and deep rooted divisions in South African over

the past 200 years.

25

While the new government has demonstrated its commitment to provide equitable

education and redress the past inequalities through a myriad of legislations and Acts,

albeit, researchers question the current National Norms and Standards for School

funding education and its capacity to improve the quality of education for all South

Africans. The question we raise in this paper is, “Is equity funding for quality basic

education in RSA feasible, given the history of inequalities?”

Funding of basic education: a historical background

State of Affairs Prior 1994

In the foregoing paragraphs we have provided a brief insight into the historical

divisions and fragmentations in the provision of education in South Africa. In

addition, prior to 1994 two departments of education fell under the jurisdiction of the

national parliament of the day; four fell under the governments of the so called self-

governing territories; and four of which had four provincial components, fell under the

jurisdiction of racially composed administrations answerable through a variety of

structures of their own elected assemblies (Davies 2005, p. 123).

African education was further fragmented into seven departments of education in the

self-governing territories or the so-called homelands, Kwa-Ndebele, Ka-Ngwane,

Lebowa, Kangwane, Qwa-qwa, Kwa-Zulu, and Gazankulu, and four departments in

the previously nominal states which were Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and

Ciskei. Subsequently, educational control and administration in the pre-democratic

era was a curious mixture of varying degrees of decentralization and centralization

(Classen 1995, p.470).

In apartheid South Africa, those self-governing territories were located according to

ethnicity. The White race benefitted more than African (Black) race. Schools were

also divided in terms of city, township and rural. For instance, children from city

areas had very different experiences from children in the rural areas. Furthermore,

26

there were also vast differences between rural and farm schools, and further

immense disparities between township and squatter camps.

At the time, the duplicating education bureaucracy was mainly a result of the 1983

Tri-Cameral Constitution, which made provision for both „general affairs‟, and „own

affairs‟ were defined as those matters which specifically or differentially affected a

population group in relation to the maintenance of its identity and the upholding and

furtherance of its way of life, culture, traditions and customs in state administration

(Booyse 2011, p. 230). Thus, we perceive the administration of education at „own

affairs‟ level, through three councils of ministers administering the education of

Whites, Coloureds and Indians. At „general affairs‟ level two departments operated

in the following two ways:

First, the national education which was seen as an umbrella department was

responsible for determining general policy in the following areas:

norms and standards for the financing of education for all population groups;

salaries and conditions of employment for educators;

professional registration of educators; and

norms and standards for syllabi and examination and certifications of qualifications.

Second, the education and training was responsible for African education outside the

national states. Thus, the peculiarity existed that while education for other racial

groups was „own affairs‟, it was a general affair in the case of education for Africans.

According to Chisholm (2005, p. 204) inequalities were apparent in differential

spending which had an impact on access to, and the quantity and quality of

education offered to Africans and Whites. Typical indicators were literacy levels,

school completion rates, learner-educator ratios, number, quality and qualifications

of educators and availability of different types of resources. Of all indicators, the

poorest people were Africans living in the previous homelands, on farms, in

townships and squatter camps without basic facilities for education to take place.

27

Nonetheless, we have witnessed major and dramatic changes in education in RSA

since 1994. We believe South Africa has undertaken the major task of transforming

the inequitable political, economic and social system that characterized the past

apartheid era into a democratic society which aims to provide equal opportunities for

all its citizens. While Motala, Porteus and Tshoane (2002, p. 2) assert that central to

this transformation is the establishment of a quality, equitable and democratic

system of education. We, however, believe that translation into real transformation

is still amiss; it still lies on paper in the policies and legislations, but short on

implementation.

State of Affairs Since 1994

According to the Constitution of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996), as well as a White

Paper on Education and Training (RSA, 1995:40) (a policy document that preceded

the promulgation of the National Education Policy Act of 1996), education and

training are basic human rights. The National Education Policy Act (Act 27 of 1996)

states that the Minister of Education may determine national policy for education,

including policy for the provision of support services in areas such as health, welfare,

career and vocational development, and counselling and guidance. The different

provincial departments of education should provide these services to learners and

educators in order to ensure effective education and training as fulfilment of the

basic human rights requirement (Mashau et al. 2008, p. 146).

We infer that the new government has been engaged in the ambitious task of

transforming the rigid political, economic and social system that characterised the

apartheid era into a democratic society that offers all racial groups the opportunity to

participate fully as citizens, workers, and fulfilled individuals. But what we also

suggest is that this transformation should construct an equitable and democratic

education system which provides quality education for all.

According to Fiske and Ladd (2002, p. 12) central to the design of the new system of

co-operative government was the view that each province should receive an

equitable share of the national revenue for the purposes of providing the public

28

services for which it was responsible. Since 1997, the national government has

transferred an annual single unconditional grant to each province to be spent on

education, health, welfare and other miscellaneous services. These equitable

shares are based on a weighted average of demographically driven formulas that

apply to each major functional area, where the weights reflect the proportions of

spending allocated grant to each expenditure category (Fiske and Ladd 2002, p. 12).

We assume that the funding goal for education is embedded in the calculation of the

equitable shares with the endeavour to guarantee distributional equity across the

provinces, where equity is defined in terms of the opportunity for each province,

regardless of its wealth, to spend the same amount on education per learner as any

other province. The funding goal in our opinion is problematic and as a

consequence may fail to provide equitable educational outcomes for all South

Africans. Unless we ignore the gross disparities in the provincial contribution to

national GDP amongst the nine provinces in RSA, where Gauteng and the Western

Cape provinces are on top of the list with 33.3% and 14.4% respectively, whereas,

Eastern Cape and Limpopo provinces are at the bottom with 8.1% and 6.7%

respectively (www.southafrica.info/about/geograpghy/provinces.htm, viewed 3 May

2011). Thus, in South African provinces, a state of equitable shares will remain

elusive and a faraway dream.

Fiske and Ladd (2002, p. 15) state that an adequacy approach to equity would have

required the national government to provide each province with sufficient revenue for

the province to meet the basic educational needs both of its typical learners and the

high cost to educate learners. Instead, the amount distributed to each province was

determined primarily by the total funds available at the national level, with the

distribution among provinces determined by the number of learners, age, and school

population in each province.

While there are major and esteemed changes in the state of South African schools,

regardless of these changes, there are also deep continuities with the past. In our

opinion, it is not surprising that the poorest provinces such as Eastern Cape,

Limpopo, Kwazulu-Natal and Mpumalanga with the poorest schools and largest

29

unemployment ratios are those that incorporate former homelands which were also

divided in terms of ethnic groupings. Probably, the realities of public schools in

these former homeland based provinces are founded on the divisive history of the

past apartheid regime. Thus, shaking the past off would require unconditional

commitment from policy makers, politicians, intellectuals, academics and every

citizen, given the history of more than two centuries which gave South Africa a

unique identity of divide and rule oppressive hegemony.

We perceive these dynamic dichotomies with awe, in that, while discrimination in

state resources allocation has been removed, inequalities persist for a number of

reasons. First, by virtue of the locality of schools in different and poor provinces,

access and provision is already defined and marginalized. Second, the ability or

inability of parents to pay for fees which contribute to the greater availability of

additional qualified educators in some schools is a major factor, and unfavourable

learner-education ratios in schools that cannot afford to employ additional educators

(Chisholm 2005; Motala 2002). There are more and substantive reasons that we

may put forward to support these dichotomies.

On the road to equity and redress

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act 108 of 1996 which is the

supreme law of the country together with several legislations was embraced to unify

all races and ethnic groups to become one South Africa. The Constitution of the

Republic of South Africa Act 108 of 1996 preamble says that, “We people of South

Africa believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity and

we want to heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on

democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights”. Therefore, a single

unifying education system was irrefutable to move the government towards equity

and redress. As a result, the South African Schools Act, 84 of 1996 (SASA) and the

National Norms and Standard for School Funding were promulgated.

30

South African Schools Act, 84 of 1996 (SASA)

South African Schools Act came into being in 1996. The Act provides for a uniform

system for the organization, governance and funding of schools to amend and repeal

certain laws relating to schools and to provide for matters connected therewith. It

also entails the way in which parents should help schools in terms of bringing their

children to school and funding of their children‟s education. It also gives guidance on

how the state should fund schools.

The Preamble to the South African Schools Act of 1996 (SASA) states that, “This

country requires a new national system for schools which will redress past injustices

in educational provision, provide an education of progressively high quality for all

learners and in so doing lay a strong foundation for the development of all our

people‟s talents and capabilities.”

According to Fiske and Ladd (2002:159) the main legislation related to schools is the

South African Schools Act of 1996 (SASA). The Act provides for a national system

of schools that includes both public schools and privately financed independent

schools which makes education compulsory for learners from the age of seven to

fifteen, or through Grade 9 and prohibits schools from discriminating among learners

based on race or their inability to pay school fees. In accordance with the

Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996, Section 29 (1) (a-b), this says

that „everyone has the right- to a basic education, including adult basic education

and to further education, which the state, through reasonable measures, must make

progressively available and accessible‟.

The South African Schools Act of 1996 calls for all schools to be governed by

elected governing bodies made up of all the school‟s stakeholders, including parents

who comprise the majority. Each governing body makes recommendations

regarding the appointment of all educators, including the principal and is mandated

to take all reasonable measures within its means to supplement the resources

provided by the state (Fiske and Ladd 2002, p. 159).

31

The National Education Policy Act of 1996 calls on the Minister of Education to set

norms and minimum standards for the funding of public schools after consultation

with the Minister of Finance. Subsequently, the Council of Education Ministers from

the nine provinces and the Fiscal Commission is an advisory group set up to provide

advice on issues of inter-governmental relations. Thus, the National Norms and

Standards for School Funding were conceived. As well, we recognize these National

Norms and Standards for School Funding as notable and significant implementation

strategic tools to redress the inequalities and assist with a provision of quality

education for all South Africans.

National Norms and Standards for School Funding

The National Norms and Standards for School Funding set out the national norms

and minimum standards for school funding in terms of South African Schools Act No.

84 of 1996. It also deals with the procedures to be adopted by provincial education

departments in determining resource allocation to their schools. These norms and

minimum standards deal with the public funding of public schools amongst others.

The National Norms and Standards for School Funding was gazetted in October

1998 and became a national policy on 1 April 1999 while its implementation started

in 2000 (Nicolaou 2001, p. 95; Karlsson et al. 2002, p. 159). The National Norms

and Standards for funding policy established funding procedures which promote

equity and redress within a context of inadequate government spending and

increasing parental financial support for education. The document sets out the

minimum standards associated with the public funding of public schools, and

exempts parents who are unable to pay school fees.

The National Norms and Standards for School Funding‟s purpose are to effect

redress and equity in school funding with a view of progressively improving the

quality of school education, within a framework of greater efficiency in organizing and

providing education services. The norms and standards indicate the method of

distribution of funds according to certain categories. The funding norms recognizes

that SASA imposes a responsibility on all public school governing bodies to do their

32

utmost to improve the quality of education in their schools by raising additional

resources to supplement those which the state provides (Patel 2002, p. 176).

The National Norms and Standards for School Funding requires provincial education

departments to prioritise the neediest schools when making decisions about capital

expenditure and to provide higher levels of recurrent non-personnel, non-capital

funding for schools in poorer communities. Moreover, National Norms and

Standards for School Funding provide for governing bodies to give fee exemptions to

poorer learners. Nonetheless, it does not address educator salaries or provincial

education department‟s school level expenditure (Pampallis 2002, p. 107; Karlsson

et al. 2002, p. 159).

According to Karlsson, et al. (2002, p. 159) to bring about redress among existing

schools, provincial education departments are required to direct 60% of the non-

personnel and non-capital expenditure towards 40% of the poorest schools in their

provinces. In order to implement this strategy, provinces are required to compile a

list of schools based on their socio-economic levels of development and physical

resources. The „resource targeting list‟ will be used to divide schools into five

categories based on needs.

According to Norms and Standards for school funding of 1998, first, the poorest 20%

of schools receives 35% of resources, while the next poorest 20% receive 25%.

Second, the next two categories receive 20% and 15% respectively. The last 20% of

schools, which are largely former Model C and former House of Delegates schools,

receives 5% of resources. The above recurrent cost allocation is used to fund water

and electricity bills, maintenance of buildings and the purchase of learning materials

which is equivalent to at least R100 per learner. The policy states that if provinces

lack sufficient funds, priority will be given to the poorest schools. It also deals with

the procedures to be adopted by provincial education departments in determining

resource allocation to their schools.

33

Table 1: Resource Targeting Table Based on Condition of Schools and Poverty of Communities

School quintiles from poorest to least

Expenditure allocation (percentage of resources)

Cumulative percentage of schools

Cumulative percentage of non-personnel and non-capital recurrent expenditure

Per learner expenditure indexed to an average of R100

Poorest 20%

35 20 35 175

Next 20% 25 40 60 125 Next 20% 20 60 80 100 Next 20% 15 80 95 75 Least 20% 5 100 100 25

Source: Government Gazette No. 19347, October 1998:27

To simplify the above diagram:

SCHOOL QUINTILES EXPENDITURE ALLOCATION %

Quintile 1 (poorest) 35 Quintile 2 25 Quintile 3 20 Quintile 4 15 Quintile 5 (least poor) 5

The new democratic order

Although the current form of funding has created platforms for redress of the past

inequalities, it is still short of the translation to free education given that students are

still expected to provide their own school uniforms, and these do not come cheap.

School uniforms are compulsory and they cost a fortune to the majority of poor and

unemployed African parents in the townships, rural and informal settlement areas in

the South Africa (Tshivhase-Phendla and Mashau 2010).

On the other hand, white schools are still well resourced since they inherited the

resources from the former regime. While the state subsidized them with a

percentage aligned to the schools‟ category, this seems not to dent the financial

capacity of many of these “former white only” schools since they still receive support

in forms of sponsorship and donations from the private sector, which are still in the

34

hands of a few white people. These white parents are able to donate money from

their businesses and in turn get it back from the government in form of tax rebates.

Many of these schools demand high tuition fees where parents pay R 63 780-R66

090 per annum in one of the schools in Gauteng (Beaulieu College) to cite one

example which the majority of African parents cannot afford. As a result, access to

these schools is limited to those who can afford these exorbitant fees. To have

access to these schools of high quality means African parents have to part with large

sums of money because these “former whites only” schools are found in the remote

and exclusively white urban areas which demands that African students need special

forms of transport to travel from their township residences to these urban schools.

With a small wage or salary, these African parents have to make ends meet. They

have to dig deep into their already semi-empty pockets. White schools still carry the

token of quality due to their exclusive physical infrastructure, buildings, security and

these schools enjoy continuous teaching, while black school continue to exist in

unsafe environments, schools without fences, where drug dealers have free reign.

What is interesting with National Norms and Standards for School Funding policy is

that, it also wants to address the construction of new infrastructure and maintenance

of the current infrastructure. The planning for new school construction includes

provision of water, electricity, sewage and telephone services on site, and

connections to main services where these are provided to the school site. The

construction of new schools or additional classrooms and learning facilities should be

targeted to the neediest population. On the other hand, construction of new schools

is within provincial governments‟ budgets, the provincial governments unfortunately

have limited budget to can start new construction for schools.

Many of the poorest schools in South Africa were based in the former homelands or

what was referred to as self-governing states. We are not surprised to note that

African (Blacks) learners from poor provinces such as Limpopo, Eastern, Cape,

Mpumalanga and Kwa-Zulu-Natal still walk more than 20 km to go to the centre of

learning. This is very unfortunate for Africans who suffered for a long period and

better life is seen nowhere in sight. South Africa has not yet reached a point of

35

addressing the inequity, unfairness and inequality of the past due to backlog which

was found since the inception of democracy in 1994. Though policy to redress the

inequality of the past is there, it is a little bit difficult to realize the dream due to the

huge demand and minimal resources.

Conclusion

Whereas the democratic government is trying to address the imbalances of the past

through legislations that are relevant to address the needs of the poor, the problem

that arises is that many children from former homeland states are still experiencing

the poverty that was there before 1994. On the one hand, debates and discourses

around funding of national education are particularly entangled in the dynamic and

dichotomous challenges between redress of the past discrimination to remove

inequalities and the inefficient implementation of the National Norms and Standards

for School Funding policy strategy. On the other hand, the most heated and debated

issue around funding tends to overlap substantially across income levels as well as

socio-economic formations.

In our modest contribution to the debate on the National Norms and Standards for

School Funding strategy and our efforts to address the main question of this paper,

that is “Is equity funding for quality basic education in RSA feasible, given the history

of inequalities?” Our noble response is that the past historical inequalities and

disparities are exceptional and notable. Nevertheless, we reiterate that while the

norms and standards‟ purpose are to effect redress and equity in school funding with

a view of progressively improving the quality of school education, we have not yet

moved remarkably far from Verwoerd‟s‟ philosophy of divide and rule if we still find

children taught under trees and in mud huts in the so called new South Africa

especially in parts of Eastern Cape, Kwazulu-Natal and Limpopo Provinces

(Tshivhase-Phendla and Mashau 2010).

Consequently, African students and educators are still subjected to unequal

provision of education inadvertently, racial and class segregation remains central to

36

this condition. Given the foregoing realities, questions that sprung to our minds are:

“Besides the National Norms and Standards of School Funding what other measures

and strategies are pivotal to the provision of quality education to all learners in South

Africa? We continue to ask few questions we rose in Tshivhase-Phendla and

Mashau, 2010 and explore the possibilities of the provision of quality education. We

ask, “If education is a fundamental democratic right in a democratic society, then

how democratic is this democratic right in such a democratic society? Simply put,

where do we place young African students in this democracy? Are they in the centre

of the picture or on the periphery? How far can education under a tree provide

equality for all citizens? This democratic right is enshrined in the Bill of Rights, in

terms of Section 29 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Tshivhase-

Phendla and Mashau 2010, p. 121).

While we do not claim to provide authoritative answers to the questions raised in this

reflective conversation, nor, in truth would we be able to, our position is that it is a

basic role of the national government, policy makers and politicians, to provide

access, equity, equality in South Africa, the legacy of differences continues to

characterize provision of our education.

References

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in J Booyse, C le Roux, J Seroto & C Wolhuter (eds), A History of Schooling in South

Africa, Van Schaik, Pretoria.

Chisholm, L 2005, The state of South Africa‟s schools, in State of the Nation South

Africa 2004-2005, HSRC Press, Cape Town.

Christie, P 1986, The right to learn: The struggle for education in South Africa,

Pinetown Printers, Craighall.

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Classen, J 1995, The education system of South Africa, in E Dekker & O Van

Schalwyk (eds), Modern Education System Heinemann, Johannesburg.

Davies, H 2005, Some aspects of equity in the funding of public schooling in South

Africa, in I Russo, J Beckman & J Jansen (eds), Equal Educational Opportunities,

Van Schaik, Pretoria.

Enslin, P 1986, The role of fundamental pedagogics in the formulation of educational

policy in South Africa, in P Kallaway P (ed), Apartheid and Education: The Education

of Black South Africans, Ravan Press, Johannesburg.

Fiske, E & Ladd, H 2002, Financing schools in post-apartheid South Africa: Initial

steps towards fiscal equity, in Chisholm L (ed) Education and Decentralization,

Gauteng Department of Education, Ravan Press, Johannesburg.

Juta - Education Law and Policy Handbook, 2003, Juta and Co, LTD, Cape Town.

Kallaway, P 1997, Reconstruction, reconciliation and rationalization in South African

politics of education, in P Kallaway, G Kruss, A Fataar & G Donn (eds), Education

after Apartheid University of Cape Town Press, Cape Town.

Karlsson, J, Mcpherson, G & Pampallis J 2002, A critical examination development

of school governance policy and its implication for achieving equity, in E Motala & J

Pampallis (eds), Education and equity Heinemann, Sandown.

Lewis, A & Lemmer, E 2004, Christian missionary endeavour in education in South

Africa (1737-1955), Journal for Christian Scholarship, vol. 40, no.1, 2de Kwaartal.

Malherbe, E 1977, Education in South Africa 1923-1975, Juta & Co. LTD, Cape

Town.

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Mashau, T., Steyn, E, van der Walt, J & Wolhuter C 2008, Support services

perceived necessary for learner relationships by Limpopo educators, South African

Journal of Education, vol. 28, p. 415.

Motala, S, Porteus, K & Tshoane, M 2002, The implementation of the South African

Schools Act: Implications for redress and equity, in Education and

Decentralization, Gauteng Department of Education, Johannesburg.

Nicolaou, K 2001, The link between macroeconomic policies, education policies and

the education budget, in E Motala & J Pampallis (eds), Education and Equity, The

Impact of State Policies on South African Education, Heinemann, Sandown.

Pampallis, J 2002, The nature of educational decentralization in South Africa, in

Education and Decentralization, Gauteng Department of Education, Johannesburg.

Patel, F 2002, “Putting our money where our mouth lies” - Norms and standards for

public school funding in South Africa-Empowered decentralization, in Education and

Decentralization, Gauteng Department of Education, Johannesburg.

Provincial contribution to national GDP, viewed 3 May 2011,

www.southafrica.info/about/geograpghy/provinces.htm

Tshivhase-Phendla, T & Mashau, T 2010, “How far away have we moved from the

educational legacy of the apartheid era?” A conceptual analysis of critical issues

facing students and teachers of African descent in the contemporary South Africa,

International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS), p. 118.

39

Photovoice as a participative method in the understanding of community

issues related to water

Samie A, Meliko M, Siaruli HS

Abstract

Water is one of the most precious resources for the day-to-day survival of humans.

It is a scarce resource whose quality and quantity for the various uses (agricultural,

domestic, industrial as well as to cover environmental needs) inevitably lead to

increased competition for the limited available water. Its decreased availability in

terms of quality and quantity can be a major public health concern. Research in

water generally involves scientists who go to different communities and collect data

with little consideration to the opinion and feelings of the local population about

certain issues being investigated. The objective of the present study was to evaluate

the applicability of the photovoice in the interaction between scientists and

community members as well as to understand the issues related to water from the

community members point of view. One community was selected for the photovoice

project. Following several meetings with representatives of this community, a group

of twelve people that included males and females of all ages who volunteered to

participate were trained on how to use a camera to take pictures. They were then

given cameras and were requested to take pictures of significance to them. All the

photographs were developed and each participant chose one that was more

significant to them and their feelings about that picture was recorded and reported.

The photovoice has demonstrated to be an effective method of communicating the

perceptions of the community about water issues. Issues raised by the participants

included the shortage of water, dirty water, long queues, government involvement in

water supply and the ever present risk of being infected from contaminated water.

The photovoice approach is useful in encouraging participatory engagement

between the researchers and the community.

Key words: Photovoice, participative method, community

Dr Samie A is a Senior Lecturer, Department of Microbiology- Molecular Parasitology and Opportunistic Infections Program; Mr Meliko S and Siaruli HS are Honours students at the University of Venda.

40

Introduction

The photo voice concept was originally developed by Wang and Burris in 1995. It is

a process by which people can identify, represent, and enhance their community

through a specific photographic technique (Wang, et al., 1996). It entrusts cameras

to the hands of people to enable them to act as recorders, and potential catalysts for

social action and change, in their own communities. It uses the immediacy of the

visual image and accompanying stories to furnish evidence and to promote an

effective, participatory means of sharing expertise to create healthful public policy.

Photovoice has three goals. It enables people to record and reflect on their

community's strengths and problems. It promotes dialogue about important issues

through group discussion and photographs. Finally, it engages policymakers. It

follows the premise that, as Wang (1996) explains, "What experts think is important

may not match what people at the grassroots think is important." In the present study

the photovoice concept was used to understand people‟s perceptions of water

quality and its impact on human life and vice versa.

The photovoice method has been used in several circumstances including HIV and

AIDS, Cancer, education, water and sanitation (Lopez et al. 2005; Hergenrather et

al. 2006; Scott 2007). In a project in Northern California, photovoice was used as an

innovative and action oriented qualitative method of participatory action research, to

uncover the realities of indigent persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) through

photographic documentation and Paolo Freirean-based critical dialogue, and share

their new understanding with local community members and leaders, policy makers,

and advocates to develop plans to effect change (Scott 2007). Community-based

participatory research is an approach that allows the community, which is recognized

as an equitable partner in the research process, to identify a research topic that is

relevant to it (Wallerstein and Duran 2006). With this approach, research questions

are guided by the concerns of the targeted community. This is important because

community members are the experts on the environmental problems they face, and

most cases of widespread environmental contamination are initially revealed by them

(Brown 2003).

41

South Africa is a water scarce country. Most of the rural areas in South Africa are

facing water problems. Tshiombo is a village in the Mutale District Municipality

where the population is experiencing water problems and most people are still using

untreated water from the sources for their daily activities. The villagers are using

water from the nearby river as well as the springs and wells, water that in many

cases is not clean, and might be contaminated. The Photovoice project was

conducted in this village to find out more on how the community feels about their

water access and health.

Methodology

The photovoice process include several steps which include the preliminary

meetings, training of the participants on the use of the cameras, picture

development, individual interview, group interview and transcription.

Preliminary meetings

A preliminary visit was organized with the Village Chief to introduce him to the

project‟s objectives and the procedures that will be used. This meeting also served

as a request for the project acceptance by the chief in order to increase acceptability

by the population as well. Once the chief gave the go ahead to the project,

a follow-up meeting organised by the chief was held to explain the objectives of the

study to the villagers and to select willing and able participants.

Training process

For this part of the project, 12 participants of varying ages and both sexes were

selected from the meeting. Their functions were clearly explained to them. Cameras

were distributed to the individual participants, who were shown how to take pictures.

Sample pictures were taken and examined. After the training team was certain of

the ability of the participants to take quality pictures, they were then given 7 days to

42

take photos on their own that were related to the water and health of their

community.

Camera collection and pictures development process

After the agreed period, the cameras were collected from participants. The films

were identified, recorded according to participants and then taken to a photo shop for

picture development.

Individual interview

After the films were developed, individual participant interviews were scheduled at

the participants‟ convenience. Each participant was asked to pick his/her favourite

picture and to tell the story behind it. All interviews were audio recorded after

requesting participants‟ permission. The audio recording was to facilitate the capture

of accurate information. From the individual meetings, all participants were asked to

choose a convenient day group symposium.

Group interview

The participants and the research team met in a classroom in Tshibvumo‟s

Mmboneni primary school. In this meeting each participant was asked to explain

his/her favourite picture to the group. Later, participants were divided according to

sex and similar age group to get the perception acquired in terms of these groupings.

All discussions were audio recorded for accurate information.

Transcriptions

The information brought by the participants from both interviews was transcribed by

at least two individuals and the consensus was considered. The idea of all the

transcriptions was to find out the most common issues that are of concern to the

participants.

43

Results and discussions

From the transcriptions it was found that Tshiombo is a water scarce community

where the community is desperate for any means to get good quality water. From

the group discussions, suggestions were made by the participants for the drilling of

Boreholes in order to improve the availability and the quantity of water. Others

suggested securing tanks for storage, while others asked for any implementation that

can provide water to the whole community. There was a lot of talk about the well,

rivers and irrigation canals that could provide water for washing, drinking and

cooking, and how they result in the poor health of the dwellers. Participants stated

that the community drinks from contaminated source where they bath and wash their

clothes. In fact ground water constitutes an important source of water in the

Limpopo Province but also in the whole country. The Limpopo Province of South

Africa is known as one of the poorest provinces in the country, but also one of the

areas in South Africa where groundwater is most widely used as the only domestic

water supply. In Limpopo alone some 30 boreholes are drilled per day although data

from only a number of newly drilled boreholes are ever captured by the Department

of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF, 2005).

Most of the participants are aware of the health risks such as Bilharzia infection

which is very common among their kids. They stated concern on the risk of various

diseases like cholera and swine flu. Water purification was not a strange subject as

some elaborated that the boiling of water or the use of bleach (JIK) was the only

means of being sure their drinking water is safe. They expressed their distress at

seeing other villages having good clean water every day while they are getting water

from the wells and irrigations that are supposed to provide water to their fields.

The following represent the views of the participants through their most significant

pictures. The photos convey the messages and feelings that they desire everyone

else to know about the water situation in their Village.

44

Figure 1: Picture and citation from participant No 1 on their feelings about

water and health in Tshiombo Village.

“When taking this picture, I was from collecting water from the well using this basket.

I wanted to show that the water looks dirty.”

Figure 2: Picture and citation from participant No2 on water and health issues

in the Village.

45

“I took this picture to show people that where we collect water is not safe. The well

is called Tshithomola. This shows that there is no good health because the water is

not safe at all.”

Figure 3: Picture and citation from participant No 3 on issues related to water

and health in Tshiombo Village.

“In this photo I see a shortage of water because in this well water gets finished

sometimes and we have to wait for the water and I found that people of this

community use this well”

46

Figure 4: Picture and citation from participant No 4 on their feelings about

issues related to water and health in Tshiombo Village.

“I wanted to show how hard the water situation is in Tshiombo if you can take look

carefully here where people are collecting water is not a good place at all. This

results in bad health to people because people get to the place where they collect

water with their shoes.”

Figure 5: Picture and citation from participant No 5 about their feelings about

issues related to water and health in Tshiombo Village.

47

“This is the place where we get water if there is no water from other sources like

wells. This water is not good for people’s health, because some wash their clothes

and bath. Recently we heard about cholera then you find person collecting water

from the dam and use with no boiling and end up affected by cholera or bilharziasis.”

Figure 6: Picture and citation from participant No 6 about their feelings about

issues related to water and health in Tshiombo Village.

“This picture I took it because this place does not have enough water and is dirty.

This small basket is 1L and was coming out not full from the well what hurt me is that

this water is not clean. Two of these people were supposed to collect water but only

one was collecting to avoid dirtiness and 1L should be full of water”

48

Figure 7: Picture and citation from participant No 7 about their feelings about

issues related to water and health in Tshiombo Village.

“I took this photo because I was looking at the difficulties when it comes to water

here at Tshiombo. The water was brought to us by a tractor this show that water is

scares in our village. The water situation in our village is not very good because the

water that we are getting now is not clean even the water that we are getting we are

not sure of its quality.”

49

Figure 8: Picture and citation from participant No 8 about their feelings about

issues related to water and health in Tshiombo Village.

“This picture was taken from the little dam. In this little dam people come and fetch

water to drink. People from Zion church come and soak the cow’s skin for a week to

make their drums. Other animals also come to drink in the same water and this can

cause diseases. Besides there are people who swim and there is a possibility of

people to get affected by bilharzias. People from church also do the baptism in the

same water after that someone has to come and collect water. This water also

contains algae. The same water is also used for irrigation.

50

Figure 9: Picture and citation from participant No 9 about their feelings about

issues related to water and health in Tshiombo Village.

“I took the picture to show the difficulties of water, because it can 2 month without

water, only 4 taps are working in the whole village and are overpopulated with

people coming to collect the water which might get contaminated, but we are forced

to drink because we run out of options. Some people come from a long distance to

collect the water; you find that there is a long queue and people start to fight.”

51

Figure 10: Picture and citation from participant No 10 about their feelings

about issues related to water and health in Tshiombo Village.

“This is a dead spring. You can see the banana trees, but because there is no

water anymore the plants are drying out. This is a symbol of showing that even in

people are in the same situation. Because the plants are drying it shows that the

world is getting tired.”

52

Figure 11: Picture and citation from participant No11 about their feelings about

issues related to water and health in Tshiombo Village.

“The water situation is not good at all, water is very scarce and if you look at it, the

way we are using little water to bath and you might find five people using same

water. It is very dangerous because you can different diseases. It is so simple to be

affected by cholera and also bilharzias.”

53

Figure 12 : Picture and citation from participant No12: about their feelings

about issues related to water and health in Tshiombo Village.

“In this picture is a well that I also drink water from. Even now I am from drinking

water from there. You can see that there are little living organisms and thing like

worms, browns and black ones that shows that if is in the dark we drink those things.

And in the well you also find crabs then you just drink since there is no choice.”

These figures and views represent the feelings of the participants concerning the

water resources in the community. This information creates a primer for further

discussion with local and international organisations such as Rand water, Water

Institution of Southern Africa and other similar institutions, in order to address the

problems related to water and health in the rural communities of the region.

A previous Photovoice study was conducted by students from University of Venda

(South Africa) and University of Virginia (USA ) covering other villages in the Mutale

District Municipality (Cunningham et al., 2009). This study found that people were

54

sharing water sources with animals from the rivers. Surveys and focus group

meetings have also been conducted to find out more about people‟s water usage. It

was found that people use the same water sources without any treatment for

activities such as clothes washing, bathing and drinking. The community indicated

that they use the same water without choice and the government water supply (Pipe

water) is scarce and only comes once a month. These people also walk long

distances to fetch water which takes some of learner‟s time to go to school. People

were also afraid of getting affected by diseases like cholera, as previously their

children suffered from bilharziasis. Previous studies in the region have shown that

schistosomiasis is very common with up to 70% of patients visiting the hospitals with

positive urinary tract infections for S. haematobium (Samie et al., 2010).

The issues identified in this community corroborates with those described in other

communities in the region. Several studies conducted by researchers from the

University of Venda have shown that water quality in the region was not acceptable

and therefore water from the rivers and streams need to be treated before it is

consumed. Obi et al. (2004) indicated that rural communities in the Venda region of

South Africa are known to rely on river water sources, which are generally not

treated for their domestic water needs (Obi et al. 2002). They also indicated that the

majority of the river water sources harboured enteropathogens and were also

reported to be of poor microbiological quality and unsafe for consumption. However,

the physico-chemical quality of the water samples that they tested at that time,

except for turbidity, of the various water sources examined was acceptable.

Consequently, the river water sources examined may not at their opinion pose any

health hazard to residents and consumers in terms of the physicochemical

parameters studied, except for the turbidity index. The high turbidity values however

precluded the rivers for direct domestic use and may also be problematic for

flocculation and filtration purposes in the case of treatment. In some cases,

diarrhoea outbreaks in the communities were linked to poor water quality. A study

by Bessong, et al. (2009) showed a spatial clustering of diarrhoea cases which might

have been influenced by the poor microbial quality of water used from a water tank

and the Khandanama River in the Tshikuwi rural community. Indicator microbial

counts for total coliforms, faecal coliforms, enterococci, and heterotrophic bacteria

55

exceeded the limit for no risk as stipulated by the South African water-quality

guidelines for domestic use for the water extraction points in the community. They

further indicated that their results highlighted the urgent need of water-treatment

facilities and monitoring of water quality in rural communities of South Africa and

particularly in the Limpopo Province.

Issues identified for intervention

The photovoice project identified the following issues in the community.

• Water resources available included only wells and rivers.

• Infrastructures available included: dams, municipal taps and irrigation canal.

• Health issues feared by the population: bilharziasis, cholera and diarrhoea.

• Farming is the most common activity in the village.

• Religious activities were also practiced in the rivers.

• Recreational activities were very limited.

• Water quality and quantity was poor and low respectively.

• Water safety – water source protection is almost non-existent.

• Water usage and users were too many for the limited resources and not

satisfied.

• Government involvement is needed to provide sustainable solutions to water

shortages and water quality.

Challenges

The challenges identified by the study participants included:

• Unsafe drinking water.

• Water scarcity.

• Long distance and time spent in collecting water from various sources.

• Poor service delivery by the municipality.

• Kids who are suffering from bilharziasis.

56

• Water is of poor quality which might increase the transmission of parasitic

organisms in water sources.

• Water is scarce in rural communities and there is need to develop water

infrastructure to improve water services in these communities.

• Any solutions that can be implemented for the said challenges?

Conclusion

This study has demonstrated that the photovoice is an appropriate method to use for

community engagement, to identify the water related problems that are faced without

coercion or fear of intimidation. Apart from identifying the challenges facing the

community, the method was able to highlight the level of development and other

cultural activities taking place in the village. This is a method which needs be

exported to other fields of study. It is a fun method which helps researchers and

policy makers get a pictorial view of the problems of a community from local

perspectives. This research also empowers community members to discuss their

attempts and ideas to improve their access to water as well as health related

interactions in their community. It also provides researchers, Government

organisations as well as non-governmental organisations, stakeholders and potential

funders with information on entry points to address health concerns correlated to

water access and quality.

References

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Diarrhoea and Microbial Quality of Domestic Water during an Outbreak of Diarrhoea

in the Tshikuwi Community in Venda, South Africa, Journal of Health, Population

and Nutrition, vol. 27, no.5, p.652.

Booth T & Booth W 2003, In the frame: Photovoice and mothers with learning

difficulties, Disability & Society, i vol. 18, p. 431.

Brown P 2003, Qualitative methods in environmental health research,

Environmental Health Perspective, vol. 111, p. 1789.

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Castleden H, Garvin T, Huu-ay-aht First Nation 2008, Modifying Photovoice for

community-based participatory Indigenous research, Social Science & Medicine,

vol. 66, p. 1393.

Cunningham T, Botchwey N, Netshandama V, Boissevain J, Firehock

K, Learmonth G, Louis G, Dillingham R 2009, Understanding water perceptions in

Limpopo Province: A photovoice community assessment, Bioinformatics and

Biomedical Engineering, . ICBBE, 3rd International Conference, p. 1.

Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, Limpopo groundwater resource

information project (GRIP), viewed 10 September 2013,

http://www.dwaf.gov.za/Groundwater/GroundwaterOffices/Limpopo/GRIP_Limpopo.p

df.

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employment-seeking behaviors of persons with HIV/AIDS through photovoice,

AIDS Education and Prevention, vol. 18, p. 243.

Lopez E, Eng E, Randall-David E & Robinson, N 2005, Quality-of-life concerns of

African American breast cancer survivors within rural North Carolina: blending the

techniques of photovoice and grounded theory, Qualitative Health Research, vol. 15,

p. 99.

Wallerstein N & Duran B 2006, Using community-based participatory research to

address health disparities, Health Promotion Practice, vol. 7, p. 312.

Wang C & Burris M 1997, Photovoice: Concept, methodology, and use for

participatory needs assessment, Health Education & Behaviour, vol. 24, p. 369.

58

Wang C, Burris M & Xiang Y 1996, Chinese village women as visual anthropologists:

a participatory approach to reaching policymakers, Social Science & Medicine, vol.

42, p. 1391.

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distribution of Schistosoma haematobium infections in the Vhembe district, Limpopo

Province, South Africa. African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 9(42), pp. 7157-7164.

Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/AJB

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Pretoria, South Africa.

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quality of river water sources in rural Venda communities in South Africa, Water SA,

vol. 28, no. 3, p. 287.

Obi C, Bessong P, Momba M, Potgieter N, Samie A & Igumbor E 2005, Profiles of

antibiotic susceptibilities of bacterial isolates and physico-chemical quality of water

supply in rural Venda communities, South Africa, Water SA, vol. 30, p. 515 -9.

59

How community stakeholders regard the role of home-based caregivers in

their municipality

Mashau NS, Mudau MJ, Netshandama VO.

Abstract

Community home-based care was developed as a solution to the increasing demand

on health care services and in South Africa it was found to be of benefit to the

community by responding to their needs. This article seeks to explore how

community stakeholders regard the role of home-based care in their municipality.

Since home-based care programmes are run by volunteers from the communities, it

was necessary to explore how community stakeholders regard the role of home-

based caregivers in their municipality. A qualitative approach was used to explore

and describe how community stakeholders regard the role played by home-based

caregivers in their community. Non-probability purposive sampling was used to

select 23 community stakeholders in the Mutale municipality of Limpopo Province in

South Africa. Data was collected through focus group discussions and in-depth

individual interviews. An unstructured interview guide was used to collect data and

data was analysed using Tesch‟s technique of open-coding as adapted from

Creswell (1994:154). The findings revealed that community stakeholders expressed

their appreciation of the role played by home-based caregivers in their community

which were viewed as an extension of the hospital in the community. Community

stakeholders further expressed their wish to support community home-based

caregivers. The study recommends that communities should be actively involved in

the promotion of their own health through home-based care.

Key words: Community Home based care, community, stakeholders

60

Introduction and Background

Home-based care (HBC) is increasingly becoming a dominant alternative to

institutional care worldwide (World Health Organization, 2002). HBC organizations

were developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s in response to the HIV/AIDS

crisis, as health care institutions could not cope with increasing numbers of patients

(Department of Health 2001; Uys 2002). The great demands on health care services

were accompanied by severe shortages of staff and resources, therefore patients

were discharged early from the hospitals to be cared for at home (Akintola 2008; de

Figueiredo and Turato, 2001).

In countries such as North America and Europe, home-based care programmes

were found to be effective in supporting people who were suffering from chronic

diseases and relieving them from the high costs of hospital care. The demand for

care then shifted from hospitals to the households where individuals were provided

with continuous care by community members (Uys 2003).

In South Africa, National policies and guidelines on home based care were

developed in 2001 because home based care was found to be the only solution to

the increasing demand on health care services (Department of Health 2001; WHO

2002). The South African National guidelines on home-based care stress the

importance of community participation in caring for the sick in their home

environment (Department of Health 2001). Civil society responded to the need for

community-based care services through non-governmental organizations (NGOs),

community-based organisations (CBOs) and faith-based organizations (FBO), which

are collectively known as Home and Community-Based Care (HCBC) (Department

of Social Development 2006).

Through home-based care, countries are implementing community participation

which is one of the principles of primary health care as endorsed by the World Health

Organisation (WHO) with people in the communities volunteering to participate in

61

home-based care (Mantzaris and Ngcobo 2007). Home-based care is an essential

health care resource in rural areas where health care facilities are inadequate and

people travel long distances to health care facilities. However, with home-based

care, individuals can receive health care services from their own homes and

therefore bridge the gap of inadequate health care services (Mutale Integrated

Development Plan (IDP) 2009/2010).

Community volunteers, who are also known as home-based caregivers, are

responsible for the home-based care activities such as caring for the needs of the

sick, the elderly, and children in need of care such as orphans in their own families

(Department of Social Development 2009). The extent to which community home-

based caregivers render home-based care services needs to be explored. Hence,

this study seeks to investigate how community stakeholders regard the role played

by home-based caregivers in their municipality.

Home-based care was found to be of benefit to the community because it makes it

possible for consumers to access health services nearest to their home. It

encourages participation by community members and encourages traditional

community life. It responds to the needs of people and creates responsibilities

amongst community members (Department of Health 2001). Since home-based

care programmes are run by home-based caregivers who volunteer to provide

home-based care services to the local community, it was deemed necessary to find

out, if indeed, the service was managing to close the gap of inadequate health care

services in the rural areas.

Research Methods

A qualitative approach was used to explore and describe how community

stakeholders regard the role of home-based caregivers in the Mutale municipality.

The population consisted of community stakeholders in the Mutale municipality in

Limpopo Province of South Africa. Mutale municipality is located in the far North

Eastern part of Vhembe District in Limpopo Province of South Africa. According to

62

the Mutale Integrated Development Plan (IDP) 2009/2010 there were about 131 781

people spread in 150 villages. The municipality had a total 24 239 households,

mostly rural. Because the Mutale local municipality has no hospital, the community

depends on hospitals which are about 20-100km away from the communities. Within

the Mutale local municipality there is one health centre and 17 health clinics which

are not up to standard as reported in the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) (Mutale

IDP 2009/2010). There were about 26 home-based care organisations registered

with the Department of Health and Social Development and only four were not

receiving funding from the Department of Health and Social Development

(Department of Health and Social Development statistics 2010). However, the

researcher found that there were other new organisations that were still developing

in Mutale municipality. Therefore, there were no exact statistics of community home-

based care in Mutale municipality and Vhembe as a whole.

A non-probability, purposive sampling method was used to select 23 community

stakeholders who participated in the study. The inclusion criteria for sampling were:

being a resident of the local community and being a member of different structures in

the local community.

Table 1. Characteristics of participants

Participants Gender Total number

Males Females

Traditional leaders 2 - 2

Community representatives 6 4 10

Traditional authority committee representatives

4 2 6

Ward Committee representatives - 2 2

Religious leaders 3 - 3

Total 23

An ethical clearance was obtained from the University of Venda‟s Ethics Committee

and permission was also obtained from the Limpopo Provincial Ethical Research

Committee. The following ethical measures were ensured throughout the process of

63

the research to protect the rights of participants: informed consent, the right to

withdraw from the study, privacy, confidentiality and anonymity. Data was collected

through focus groups and in-depth individual interviews in order to allow community

stakeholders to express their views on the role of home-based caregivers freely

without restrictions. The researcher and the participants were involved in interviews

as co-participants. The question asked to stimulate the discussion during the

interviews was, “How do you regard the role of home-based caregivers in your

community?” Follow-up questions were asked to allow for deeper and more

thoughtful responses from the participants and rephrasing was used for clarity.

Permission was requested from the participants for a voice recorder to be used and

data was later transcribed verbatim. Field notes were also used to record the non-

verbal cues that were observed during the interview by the researcher. The

language used during the interviews and focus groups was the local language,

Tshivenda. Each transcript was read as the voice recorder was played and

corrections were made to ensure that the voice recordings and the transcripts

corresponded. Data was translated from Tshivenda to English before analysis. Data

was analysed using Tesch`s (in Creswell 2009) eight steps of open coding in which

raw data was organized into themes and sub-themes.

Lincoln and Guba‟s model (in De Vos et al. 2007) was utilised to ensure that the

findings are a true reflection of community stakeholders. Four criteria for

establishing trustworthiness were used namely credibility, transferability,

dependability and confirmability. The researcher was engaged in a prolonged

interaction for about one hour with the community stakeholders to ensure credibility

of the study. The participants were allowed to verbalise their feelings without being

hurried or interrupted.

Field notes were written during data collection to ensure dependability. Tape

recordings as well as written dialogues during the interviews increased confirmability

and a detailed description of the research design and methodology ensured possible

application of the study in other settings. Follow-up interviews were conducted with

some participants for validation of data.

64

Results

Three focus groups and in-depth individual interviews were held with 23 community

stakeholders. During the discussions with the stakeholders two trends emerged: the

appreciation of community stakeholders regarding the role of home-based caregivers

in the community and acknowledgement by community stakeholders of the need to

support home-based caregivers.

Theme 1: The appreciation of community stakeholders regarding the role of

home-based caregivers in the community

Data in this study showed that community stakeholders appreciated the role played

by home-based caregivers in their communities. The following sub-themes emerged

from the main theme:

The claim that the home-based caregivers constitute the community‟s

„hospital‟ and;

Home-based care was curbing unemployment

The claim that home-based caregivers constitute the community`s `hospital`

Community stakeholders expressed their appreciation of the role of home-based

caregivers to an extent that they compared it to a mobile hospital amongst the

community. Since there is no primary health care facility in each village, community

members in Mutale had to travel more than 10km to a clinic. Therefore, the role of

home-based caregivers was viewed as beneficial to the community because people

are referred from the clinic to home-based caregivers for continuous care such as

wound dressing and treatment support. Community stakeholders explained that they

greatly value the role of home-based caregivers because it relieves them of walking

long distances to the clinic every day. A participant in one of the focus groups

discussion said:

65

“It is difficult to go to the clinic every day for wound dressing, but these people come

to our families assisting us. I once sustained some burns and got treated at the

clinic. Since the wound needed to be cleaned every day, the clinic staff referred me

to the community home-based caregivers who dressed my wound until I was

completely healed. These people are our hospital!”

Another participant said:

“People in this community appreciate home-based care because they have suffered

by travelling to the clinic before the development of home-based care. One must

have R20.00 for transport to the clinic.”

Participants also indicated the issue of being rescued from the potential attacks by

criminals because they would walk along the paths which pass through thick bushes

as shortcuts to the clinic, but with the presence of home-based caregivers in the

community, the situation has changed because they are referred from clinics to

home-based caregivers for continuous daily care.

“You know! These people help us a lot…, sometimes without even getting any

stipend, you know! Our village is very far from the clinic. To reach the clinic a person

must walk around that mountain and through a dense bush.”

Community stakeholders appreciated the role of home-based caregivers in the

community and indicated that they also assist the elderly people who are staying

alone at home by doing activities such as house chores.

“They come across situations where a sick person is staying alone. They fetch water

and cook for that person.”

66

Community stakeholders regarded home-based caregivers in their community as

their `hospital` because they were providing them with care in their homes. The

findings showed that the community was benefiting a lot from the services provided

by home-based caregivers.

Home-based care curbing unemployment

Discussions with community stakeholders in this study revealed that most of the

people in the rural communities of Mutale municipality are unemployed and home-

based care was regarded as a project which was curbing unemployment because of

a stipend that they get. A participant said:

“Most of the people here are unemployed and this home-based care has helped

people with employment. Education is also a matter of concern because we have

many youth who have passed matric and are unemployed.”

Another participant added: “We were going to be very grateful if every time when the

hospitals have a need to train nurses and can select from these people.”

The findings showed that community stakeholders regard home-based care as a tool

for curbing unemployment.

Theme 2: Acknowledgement by community stakeholders of the need to

support home-based caregivers.

Findings from this study revealed that community stakeholders have acknowledged

the need to support home-based caregivers. Community stakeholders cited poverty

as the reason for not offering full support to home-based caregivers as expected.

This is how a participant expressed it:

“Support from the community is difficult because most of the people are unemployed

and they do not have money.”

67

In this study community stakeholders explained that the community home-based

caregivers need support in the form of finance, shelter and protection from physical

harm. These sub-themes are discussed under the following headings:

Financial support

Findings in this study showed that community stakeholders were concerned about

the poverty state of the home-based caregivers who are busy helping the community

even though they are not getting a stipend regularly or not at all. Some of the

community stakeholders explained that they encourage the home-based caregivers

to try to cope with the challenges of not getting a stipend since they have nothing to

offer them because of poverty. This is how a participant expressed it:

“You see, these people are not getting any salary. How will they pay for transport?

They can also not be able to walk alone through such dense bush.”

Contrary to this finding, some community stakeholders in this study expressed that

as much as they understand that there was a need for home-based caregivers to be

supported in meeting their basic needs such as housing, they are excluded them

getting Reconstruction Development Programme (RDP) houses. Community

stakeholders in this study explained that home-based caregivers are regarded as

people who are working for the government and therefore cannot benefit from the

housing projects provided by the government for the poor. This is how a participant

expressed it:

“A home-based caregiver gets something as well as a grant, and we feel that the

person (home-based caregiver) will be taking the space of those who are poor

because he or she is getting something.”

68

Findings in this study revealed that community stakeholders were aware of the

financial needs of the home-based caregivers; however, they had no any other

means of assisting them as they were also living in poverty.

Shelter

Some community stakeholders were concerned about the lack of proper structure for

home-based caregivers. However, they expressed that the support that they could

offer was only an empty piece of land, and because of poverty, home-based

caregivers find it difficult to build a structure which will serve as an office where they

can meet and keep their documents and equipment safe. A participant said:

“We are just struggling to support them because in this area we are suffering from

poverty. Our traditional leader provided them with a stand where they had erected a

one-room muddy office. However, with the construction of a new tarred road here

we then requested for the assistance of the contractor. You see now, they have a

one room office, even though it is small, at least it is safe.”

Some community stakeholders in this study explained the lack of shelter as a

desperate situation. It was revealed in this study that some home-based caregivers

hold their meetings under a tree.

Need for protection from physical harm

Findings from this study revealed that community home-based caregivers were

sometimes called during the night when there was an emergency in the family.

Participants explained that they felt it was not safe for the community home-based

caregivers who were mostly females to work in the community during the night. This

is how a participant expressed it:

69

“What is scary is that these people are called to assist families during the night,

which we find it to be unsafe.”

Another one added, “We can assist by accompanying them when they are called for

emergencies at night, we can give them our phone numbers to call us when they are

going for emergencies at night. We also need to have the numbers of the police

services which we can call in case we encounter something.”

In this study community stakeholders identified different forms of safety risks that

home-based caregivers can come across whilst providing home-based care

including the risk of physical harm from snakes bite or attacks by criminals.

Community stakeholders stressed the fact that they were aware of the important role

played by the home-based caregivers and that it was the responsibility of the

community as a whole to see how to support them.

A participant said: “Our love is that home-based care should be well developed. As

a community, we will see how we can support them. Our doors are open and they

should come if they need assistance.”

Another participant commented: “During community meetings we are able to inform

the people that these people are of high importance, support them.”

It was also explained by the community stakeholders that if the home-based

caregivers are not bringing their problems to the attention of the stakeholders, it

would appear as if everything was fine. Community stakeholders explained that they

can make the community aware of the importance of community home-based

caregivers during community meetings.

70

Discussion

Community stakeholders in this study explained that since the development of home-

based care groups in their communities there were some improvements with regard

to health care. Home-based caregivers were praised by the community stakeholders

for contributing to the development of the rural communities through the provision of

health care services in people`s homes. Some of the community stakeholders

explained that the presence of the community home-based caregivers in the

community has reduced the travelling costs of the people to the clinic. Participants

in this study indicated that home-based caregivers are participating in the welfare of

the people by collecting treatment for people who are too weak to travel to the clinic

and help to supervise the treatment until a person gets healed. It was revealed in

this study that community home-based caregivers were helping people in the

community with access to health and social welfare services. In this study the

presence of home-based caregivers in the villages of Mutale municipality was greatly

appreciated by the stakeholders. A study conducted in Uganda reported that people

in the community expressed their value of home-based caregivers because they felt

that they were making a difference in their lives with regard to their health (Jack et al.

2011). It was further revealed in the same study that home-based caregivers were

playing a major role in the community because they were able to reach people who

were in the deep rural villages. They assisted sick people by collecting medication

from the hospice and brought it to them in their villages and therefore were regarded

as a bridge to the hospice (Jack et al. 2011).

Findings in this study revealed that besides the door to door health care services that

were rendered by home-based caregivers, they were also invited to community

meetings which were held every Sunday morning to give health education to the

people. The importance of home-based caregivers was expressed by the

community stakeholders who indicated that they saw home-based caregivers moving

around the villages from house to house assisting people in their homes.

Community stakeholders explained that home-based caregivers sometimes come

across difficult situations in the community such as an elderly sick person who will be

staying alone. In such cases they assisted by fetching water and preparing food for

71

that person even though such activities are not within their scope. They were

assisting the community to that extent. A study conducted in the Western Cape

Province of South Africa by Orner (2006) reported that home-based caregivers were

valued because of the support that they offer to the families. In the same study it

was reported that home-based caregivers provided support while visiting families by

performing the following activities: counselling both clients and their families, cooking

and cleaning the house. According to Orner (2006), home-based caregivers were

valued by the community because they met the needs that the health services could

not meet.

Participants in this study revealed that sometimes people who are sick in the

community are hidden by their relatives. However, home-based caregivers are

made aware of such situations by the local stakeholders to go and assist. The study

revealed a good working relationship expressed by the stakeholders. The findings

showed that the work that is performed by the home-based caregivers in the rural

communities of Mutale had a great impact on the people of Mutale as expressed by

community stakeholders.

Community stakeholders who participated in this study explained that most

households in Mutale municipality rely only on cattle farming as a means to support

their families and therefore since the land was dry with limited rain, it made farming

difficult. It was further revealed that there were many youths who had passed grade

12 but are unemployed. Community stakeholders explained that in some villages of

the Mutale municipality there was no any other means of survival except to get

employment and therefore home-based care was their only hope of employment. It

was believed that if home-based caregivers can be trained as nurses by hospitals, it

means that there will be vacant positions in home-based care which will be

automatically filled by those who have passed grade 12 and are unemployed.

Community stakeholders further explained that they would be grateful if the hospitals

can select from home-based caregivers whenever they needed candidates for

training as nurses.

72

Some participants in this study viewed home-based care as a source of employment

which was helping the community to fight poverty at the same time promoting the

health of the people in the community. With the high rates of poverty and

unemployment, it becomes clear why they have those expectations. Community

stakeholders explained that home-based caregivers receive a stipend which assists

them in buying food for their families, therefore home-based care was assisting in

the fight against poverty. Community stakeholders in this study regarded home-

based caregivers as people who are employed even though they know that they

sometimes do not receive a stipend.

It was noted in this study that home-based caregivers were regarded as people who

were contributing in rural development through the promotion of public health.

Throughout the discussions with the community stakeholders it was clear that home-

based care was seen as a form of employment. A study on voluntary home-based

caregivers in Zimbabwe revealed that most of the volunteers anticipated that their

activities would lead to full-time employment with full pay (Rödlach 2009). The

findings of this study are further supported by Moetlo, Pengpid and Peltzer (2011)

who recommended in their study that home-based caregivers should receive a

nationally recognised training which will enable them to be certified and placed within

the health care system. In this way it would mean that community home-based care

can serve to curb unemployment in the poverty stricken rural communities. Similarly,

in Zimbabwe it was reported the small remunerations given to voluntary caregivers

contributed to the wellbeing of their families (Rödlach 2009) and therefore home-

based care was viewed as a means to curb unemployment.

Community stakeholders felt it strongly that since home-based caregivers were

getting a stipend from the government, they cannot benefit twice from the same

government by getting free services such as housing from the government because

it is believed they have a chance of future employment at clinics and hospitals.

However, a study on home-based care services in the Vhembe district revealed that

active involvement of community stakeholders‟ results in the success of community

home-based care programmes (Moetlo et al. 2011). Community home-based

73

caregivers are working in under-resourced communities and it becomes a challenge

to them since they also are living in poverty. It is shown in various studies

(Department of Social Development 2006; Mantzaris and Ngcobo 2007;

Akintola2008) that voluntary home-based caregivers who themselves are

unemployed were attracted to work for home-based care organizations or even

forming their own Home-based Care (HBC) group for the sake of stipends. In this

study it was observed that most of the home-based caregivers were working in

rented shelters in the community such as church buildings, classrooms, backrooms

from community members and unused rooms from some local shops. The findings

of this study revealed that community stakeholders have no other means to assist

except to give the community home-based caregivers a piece of land. Studies

conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) (2002); Uys (2002) and

Department of Social Development (2006) have shown that Home-based care

programmes in South Africa are operating in resource-limited settings.

Some community stakeholders explained that they were aware that community

home-based caregivers place their lives at risk, especially at night because they

were sometimes called by community members during emergencies. The potential

safety risk on home-based caregivers was seen by community stakeholders as a

serious issue which needs community intervention. In other studies (Uys and

Cameron 2003; Onyango 2009) it is shown that the common risks that home-based

caregivers were faced with were infection which they may contract when bathing and

changing of patients` linen because there is too much contact with body fluids.

However, in this study community stakeholders identified snake bite and attacks by

criminals as possible safety risks for community home-based caregivers which need

to be addressed.

Recommendations

Community stakeholders should actively participate in home-based care in order to

promote community development through home-based care. The community

members should be encouraged to be actively involved in the provision of home-

74

based care by showing support in the form of donations. Community policing forums

should be developed and be actively involved in the protection of community home-

based caregivers around the villages. Members of community policing forum (CPF)

should accompany home-based caregivers during the night in cases of emergencies.

Local business should donate lamps and torches which can be carried by home-

based caregivers at night. Community home-based caregivers should be provided

with telephone numbers of the local traditional leader and the local policing forum

whom they can call if they feel threatened.

The Department of Health and Social Development should select the nurses for

training from home-based caregivers who meet the requirements in order to

contribute to increasing the employment in the rural communities. The government

should support home-based care organizations by providing funding to promote the

provision of quality home-based care by community caregivers.

Conclusion

The role of home-based caregivers was regarded as beneficial to the community

which even regarded them as their „hospital‟ because they were providing the

community with basic care in their own homes. It was also acknowledged that even

though home-based caregivers were passionately providing care to people in their

homes, they also needed financial support and protection from physical harm.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the research and publication committee of the University of

Venda and the National Research Fund (NRF) for funding this study.

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Uys, L 2002, The practice of community caregivers in a home-based HIV/AIDS

project in South Africa, Journal of Clinical Nursing, vol. 11, p. 99.

Uys, L & Cameron, S 2003, Home-based HIV/AIDS care, South Africa: Oxford

University Press.

World Health Organisation (WHO) 2002, Community home-based care in resource-

limited settings: A framework for action, Switzerland, Geneva.

World Health Organisation (WHO) 2009, Regional framework for action: 2009 –

2013. Scaling up HIV prevention, treatment, care and support in community and

home based care programmes and reducing the burden of HIV and AIDS care on

carers in SADC, Switzerland, Geneva.

77

The reduction of microcystin congeners in raw water source with the use of

ceramic water filters: A case study

Mulaudzi DA and Gumbo JR

Abstract

The majority of rural communities rely on the freshwater bodies for their water

consumption without any form of water treatment. Here we report on the levels of

microcystins in raw surface water source and in purified water after passing through

a ceramic water filter. The raw water had a concentration of 155.92 ppb of

microcystin LR and the final purified water had a concentration of 0 ppb with ceramic

water filter #16 (100% reduction) and to 8.29 ppb with ceramic water filter # 2 (95%

reduction). For microcystin YR, raw water had a concentration of 245.96 ppb of

microcystin YR and the final water had a concentration of 18.44 ppb with ceramic

water filter #16 (93% reduction) and to 4.79 ppb with ceramic water filter # 2 (98%

reduction). For microcystin LY, raw water had a concentration of 369.63 ppb of

microcystin LY and the final water had a concentration of 0 ppb with ceramic water

filter #16 (100% reduction) and to 0 ppb with ceramic water filter # 2 (100%

reduction). The cyanobacteria that were identified as Oscillatoria ssp; Lyngbya spp;

Anabaena ssp; Microcystis ssp; Cylindrospermopsis spp; Trichodesmium spp;

Phormidium ssp and green algae Scenedesmus ssp and Cladophora ssp. The

microcystin congeners LR, YR and LY, were found in the pool by roadside were

probably produced by the filamentous cyanobacteria, Oscillatoria and Anabaena

spp. The ceramic water filters were able to reduce the microcystins in the final

purified waters.

Key words: rural communities; ceramic water filters; microcystin contamination;

activated carbon

Dr Gumbo JR is a senior lecturer in the Department of Hydrology and Water resources and Mr Mulaudzi DA is an Honour student.

78

Introduction

Water is a sustenance element of life and other most activities of human society,

economy and social civilization and maintenance of human health dependent on

ready access adequate water supplies. Water is a vital resource to human survival

and the planet. One-sixth of the World‟s population, approximately 1.1 billion people,

does not have access to safe, secure and ample water (WHO/UNICEF 2004). The

cause to this is the increase in water pollution and recently, polluted drinking water

was seen primarily as a threat to public health because of the transmission of

bacterial waterborne disease (Jeffrey, et al. 1998).

As it has occurred in most countries in the world e.g., Australia, United States of

America (USA), and China, the incidence of cyanobacteria blooms in South African

water bodies has increased during recent years as a result of a progressive increase

in the eutrophication of rivers and water storage reservoirs (Van Ginkel and Conradie

2001; Harding and Paxton 2001; Oberholster and Botha 2005). South Africa

generates large quantities of sewage through industries and urban complexes and

these industries release their effluent containing high concentration of dissolved salts

and nutrients to freshwater bodies (Oberholster and Ashton 2008). Due to the fact

that South Africa is classified as a water scarce country, the National Water Act (Act

36 of 1998) states that the industries are allowed to discharge treated effluent into

river courses to contribute to water flows and increase existing water supplies and

can be re-used by downstream communities. As a result, the effluent released back

to river treated and untreated contain more than normal concentration of nutrients

which exceeds the normal flow of water prior to effluent discharge. Thus many water

storage reservoirs are now eutrophic or hypertrophic in South Africa (Van Ginkel, et

al. 2000). Agriculture is accelerating eutrophication by its nutrients contained in

irrigation return flows (Pitois, et al. 2001).

Cyanobacteria are found in a variety of environments ranging from arid to desert,

freshwater to brackish and marine and even in the Polar Regions (Whitton and Potts

2000). The cyanobacteria have been implicated in the production of a variety of

cyanotoxins such as neurotoxins, hepatoxins, saxitoxins (Carmichael 1997; Codd, et

79

al. 1989; 1999; Gumbo and Cloete 2011). These cyanotoxins have also been linked

to human fatalities (Falconer, et al. 1983; Jochimsen, et al. 1998), fish kills

(Ochumba 1990) and the death of wildlife and domestic animals (Oberholster, et al.

2009a; Nonga, et al. 2011). Though cyanobacteria are toxic due to the production

of cyanotoxins, these are not classified as waterborne pathogens as in the case of

Salmonella, Vibrio Cholerae and Shigella and or as opportunistic pathogens as in the

case Aeromonas and Enterobacter (Gray 1999). Perhaps this lack of waterborne

classification might be due to inability of cyanobacteria to invade and grow in

humans and or animals in order to cause disease. The cyanobacteria produce

cyanotoxins which may pose a human health risk, especially after direct contact with,

or ingestion of water contaminated with these cyanotoxins (Chorus and Bartram

1999). One toxic cyanobacterium genera is encountered in surface water source, is

Microcystis spp. There are more than 70 microcystin congeners that have been

identified to date, only a few occur frequently and in high concentration (Hoeger, et

al. 2004). Microcystin-LR is among the most frequent and most toxic microcystin

congeners (WHO 1998). Frequently occurring cyanobacteria genera that contain

these cyanotoxins are Microcystis, Planktothrix and Anabaena (Chorus and Bartram

1999). A cyanobacterial bloom often produces harmful secondary metabolites that

cause harmful effects on the health and vitality of humans and animals (Wiegand

and Pflugmacher 2005).

Millennium Development Goals and access to safe drinking water

Goal 7c of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was set as a target for the

United Nation (UN) member states to restrain 1.1 billion people which is one-sixth of

the world‟s population to “halve the fraction of people with no sustainable access to

secure drinking water and vital sanitation (WHO/UNICEF 2004)‟‟. The UN General

Assembly for the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade of

1981-1990 established an objective of “full access to water supplies and sanitation

for all,” which builds upon the MDGs target (Mintz, et al. 2001). Since the 1990s,

improvement has taken place notably in the area of safe water coverage and

sanitation. The number of people with improved access to water sources such as

public standpipes, protected dug wells, boreholes and household connections, has

80

increased to roughly 816 million (WHO/UNICEF 2004). This increase in coverage is

keeping pace with population growth. In reality, people who are having lack of

access to safe water have remained relatively steady ever since 1990 (Mintz, et al.

2001).

If the target is to be met by 2015 around the world of water and sanitation from MDG

7c, innovative strategies on to bring safe water should be launched. The use of

water treatment plants and pipe-distribution systems installation cannot be relied

upon as the only method to supply improved water. Insufficient fund or capital to

sustain and build infrastructures to deliver piped water to dispersed population in

rural communities is poor by the governments and private organizations. Thus point-

of-use treatment, situated in the rural house, is a most urgent and sustainable

alternative to access safe water instead of centralized water systems which people

should use. Thus the use of ceramic water filters may offer a viable and simple

water treatment technology at household level.

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) summarize the development goals agreed

on the international conference and the world summits during the 1990s. By 2015

reduce the half population of the people without access to safe drinking water. More

than one billion people lack access to safe drinking water and more than two billion

lack of proper sanitation during the 1990s, however nearly one billion people gained

the access to safe water and the same number to sanitation (Drinking 2006).

Inadequate drinking water supply and quality and poor sanitation are among the

world‟s major cause of preventable morbidity and mortality. Diarrhoea alone cause

2.2 million of the 3.4 million water related disease per year and many of the death

involve the children of under five years of age and the poorest household and

community and also immunocompromised people (MacKenzie et al. 1994; Dufour

et al. 2003). Although the target of reducing the number of people lacking access to

safe drinking water, the main challenge is to ensure that at household level, the

drinking water remains safe from pathogen and cyanotoxin contamination.

81

Cyanotoxins in drinking water and their health effects

For access to safe water and the presence of cyanotoxins in the freshwater

impoundments is a challenge. For example, Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii is

tropical cyanobacterium that is now found in South African freshwater bodies and is

responsible for the production of cylindrospermopsin, a potent toxin; of which the

majority of municipal water treatment plants are unable to remove (van Vuuren and

Kriel 2008). Secondly rural communities often rely on surface water (untreated) for

their daily needs and this may expose them to low levels of cyanotoxins which are

hazardous to their health on the long term (Falconer et al. 1983; Foss-Kankeu et al.

2008). The rural community that was living close to a eutrophic freshwater body,

Bospoort dam (located in the North-West Province of South Africa), suffered

diarrhoea episodes that were linked to the presence of cyanobacteria in the

impoundment (Mogakabe and van Ginkel 2008; Frost and Sullivan 2010). In

Australia, elevated concentrations of microcystins were linked epidemiologically to

an outbreak of human hepatoenteritis (Falconer et al. 1983). The Microcystis and

Anabaena strain are known to produce cyanotoxins such as microcystins (with over

70 variants) and nodularin which are tumor promoters and potent inhibitors of protein

phosphatase in 1 and 2A in animal and higher plants (Oberholster et al. 2004). The

cyanotoxins if left unmanaged may derail the progress towards achieving the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) such as child and maternal mortality and

access to safe water (South Africa Country MDG Report 2010).

Microcystins bioaccumulate in the liver and can cause liver damage (Falconer et al.

1983). Adverse symptoms from long-term contaminated raw water (weeks to

months) may not be obvious, but could range from a feeling of general malaise or

gastro-intestinal discomfort, to jaundice. Children appear to be more sensitive to

these toxic effects, which are more likely to present as acute gastro-intestinal

symptoms (nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, etc.) (Painter 1999) With lower body

weights, children are at greater risk of developing serious liver damage from

continued exposure to low levels of microcystins. Because of their comparatively

lower body weight, children are particularly at risk of liver damage, as well as gastro-

intestinal effects, if they are exposed to the toxin in large amounts over an extended

82

period of time. At low to moderate levels of exposure, the effects may be reversible.

High levels of exposure to the toxins can have irreversible effects.

In South Africa and other parts of the world, microcystins are a major concern to

drinking water providers from a health and economic perspectives (Scott 1991;

Harding and Paxton 2001). The microcystins have been linked to liver damage that

prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to adopt a provisional guideline

value for microcystins-LR (L for leucine and R for arginine) of 1.0 parts per billion

(ppb) in drinking water (WHO 1998; Hoeger, et al. 2004). Earlier on, Ueno, et al.

(1996) had proposed a more stringent guideline value of 0.01 ppb based on a

possible correlation of primary liver cancer in certain locations in China. Consumers

in these locations used potable water contaminated with microcystins (Oberholster,

et al. 2004). In Australia, the potable water standard for microcystins was set at 1.3

ppb (NHMRZ/ARMCANZ 2001).

Water treatment approaches to manage cyanotoxins

The majority of conventional water treatment plants that are located in rural areas of

South Africa cannot afford to retrofit advanced water treatment technologies such as

activated carbon and ozone due to financial constraints and also required skilled

persons to operate these plants (Momba et al. 2008; Pindihama et al. 2011).

These technologies are best at removing the cyanotoxins and improving the taste

and odour of purified water. For example approximately R20.4 million was spent

retrofitting granular activated carbon (GAC) filtration system for Rietvlei water

treatment plant and the operational cost of GAC was R0.23/m3 of purified water (Van

der Walt et al. 2000a). Vaalkop water treatment plant downstream of Bospoort dam

spent more money upgrading the water treatment technologies to the tune of R55

million (Van der Walt et al. 2000b). As indicated by the case study of Bospoort

water treatment works abandoning poor quality raw water, turned to importing

purified water from Randwater and Magalies water boards at staggering R4.8 million

per year (Frost and Sullivan 2010).

83

Since cyanotoxins, in particular microcystins are heat stable (Harada, et al. 1996),

they are not degraded by boiling, a process which is part of cooking food. Thus the

option of using heat to degrade the cyanotoxins does not work. The alternatives

water treatment options at household levels are chlorination and reverse osmosis

and ozonation. But the use of advanced technologies of reverse osmosis and

ozonation are expensive and are beyond the financial reach of rural communities.

The promotion of safe methods at household level such as the use of ceramic water

filters is a welcome development (WHO 2007; Mwabi, et al. 2011). The success of

ceramic water filters has been demonstrated in the pathogen removal in the Limpopo

province and elsewhere in the world (Lantagne 2001a; Clasen and Boisson 2006;

van Halen et al. 2009; Smith 2010). The ceramic water filter is composed of local

raw materials, clay and sawdust (Figure 1). The local clay crafter made the clay pot

in the traditional way but added sawdust, a combustible material. After sun drying

and fire curing, at temperatures of 800o C, the sawdust was burnt thus creating tiny

holes in which water would filter out and at the same time retain the pathogens

(Tyeryar et al. 2011). In separate study in Limpopo by Tyeryar et al. (2011)

evaluated the feasibility of establishing a ceramic water filter factory at Mukondeni

village, Vhembe district, Limpopo. There were successful trials of using PureFilter

ceramic water filters containing silver nanoparticles in Tsapasha and Tshibvumo in

Vhembe district, Limpopo province in which there were low levels of pathogens in

the purified water (Smith 2010). The ceramic water filters without silver

nanoparticles (#16) and with silver nanoparticles (#2) were purchased from the

ceramic water filter factory.

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Figure 1: A simple ceramic water filter made of clay and sawdust sitting on-top of a

bucket with tap (A); water seeping out of the ceramic water filter (B) and collecting

purified water by opening of tap (C).

The removal of cyanotoxins at household level

The use of chlorination (addition of JIK, a bleaching agent) at the household level

has been practiced in an effort to inactivate pathogens and has been successful

(Potgieter et al. 2009). Thus the chlorination of drinking water at household level

may form secondary reactions if there are appreciable quantities of naturally

occurring matter (NOM). The end result is the formation of water disinfection by

products such as trihalomethanes (THM) (Lantagne 2001b; Westrick et al. 2010).

Thus chlorine as an oxidizing agent can destroy NOM including cyanotoxins. The

major concern is the formation of water disinfection by products which have been

implicated as carcinogenic agents (Melnick et al. 2006).

85

The burning of sawdust during the firing of the ceramic water filter results in the

formation of a carbon layer within the clay matrix (Figure 2). This carbon layer is the

basis of the removal of natural occurring matter, including cyanotoxins. Carbon

either granular or activated has been effective in the adsorption of cyanotoxins and is

the standard water treatment process in the removal of cyanotoxins (Adinata, et al.

2007; Westrick et al. 2010; Ho, et al. 2011). Hence the use of activated carbon

seems an attractive option as this is part of the ceramic water filter body (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Wall of the ceramic water filter indicating the carbon layer (arrowed black).

86

This study was to investigate the algal and cyanobacteria communities and

microcystin congeners in Nwanedi and Luphephe water sources and to evaluate the

use of ceramic water filters in reducing microcystin congers in raw water intended for

human consumption. The specific objectives were: to determine the physico-

chemical analysis of the surface water source; to determine the levels of

microcystins congeners in the surface water source and to determine the levels of

microcystins congers in the purified waters after passing through the ceramic water

filters and to identify the types of cyanobacteria species in the surface water source.

The study area

Limpopo Province of South Africa is predominantly with rural and agricultural area.

Previously microbiological assessment have shown that most of the surface water

(stream, wells, and fountains) in the rural community of Limpopo Province are

contaminated with microbiological organisms such as enteric bacterial pathogen

including Escherichia coli and Salmonella (Obi et al. 2002; Bessong et al. 2009).

Other studies have also found evidence of microcystins in surface water sources and

have been linked to the dominance of the cyanobacterium, Microcystis aeruginosa

(Foss-Kankeu et al. 2008; Oberholster et al. 2009; Makhera et al. 2011). The

study by Foss-Kankeu et al. (2008) showed that the drinking water that was

collected from surface water sources and kept at home in plastic containers was

contaminated with microcystins that showed variation within the WHO guideline

values of 1 ppb. The study area lies north of Thohoyandou, is the dams of

Luphephe and Nwanedi and Nwanedi River and the rural communities are:

Folovhodwe, Muswodi, Gumela, Tshikotoni and Tshilovi (Figure 3). The study area

is closely associated with the catchment of the two dams. The Nwanedi Dam is

located at the junction of the Nwanedi and Luphephe rivers in Limpopo Province,

South Africa, and is an important source of assured water supplies for irrigated

agriculture along the lower reaches of the Nwanedi River, upstream of its junction

with the Limpopo River on South Africa‟s border with Zimbabwe. There is an

extensive agricultural activity, upstream and downstream of Nwanedi and Luphephe

dams (Ramulwela 2012).

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Figure 3: The location of the Luphephe and Nwanedi dams and rivers

Materials and Methods

Water sampling

The water samples were collected from four different points within the study area, in

20 litre plastic containers during the month of December 2012. Water collection

points are Luphephe dam (sample 1), Nwanedi dam (sample 2), downstream of

Nwanedi dam wall (sample 3) and pool by roadside, 700 m from the main tar road,

(sample 4). The water samples were subdivided for physico-chemical analysis,

nutrient analysis, cyanotoxins analysis and identification of algal and cyanobacterial

species.

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Sample analysis

Physico-chemical analysis

The pH, water temperature, electric conductivity (EC) and total dissolve solids (TDS

was measured, in triplicate, using pH meter (Portable pH meter Crison MM40). It

was first calibrated according to the manufacturer‟s guidelines using pH buffers of

four and seven.

Nutrient analysis

For the triplicate measurement of the nutrients, phosphate and nitrate, the Ion

Chromatography (IC) Metrohm 850 professional IC (Metrohm, Switzerland) was

used. The measurements were conducted in duplicate. The water samples were

filtered thru 0.45 µm filter using a syringe and collected in a clear 250 ml plastic tube

prior to IC analysis. The Ion Chromatography Metrohm 850 Professional (Metrohm)

equipped with air-actuated 8 port injection valve with one sample loop (20 µl) was

used to determine the following anions: Cl-; Br-; NO3-; NO2

-; PO43- and SO4

2-. The

eluent mixture was then prepared and used according to the manufacturer Metrohm

protocol. The eluent solution was then degassed using nitrogen. The anion

standard solutions were prepared according to procedures outlined in Standard

Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater (APHA 2008). A check

standard was also used during the routine analysis to ensure accuracy and quality of

results.

Microcystin analysis

The microcystin analysis was done at University of Johannesburg, Department of

Applied Chemistry. The 100 ml of water sample was filtered through a 0.45 µm

membrane filter and the filtrate divided into three 10 ml portions, which were passed

through Oasis® HLB 3 cc/60 mg, for solid phase extraction of microcystins, before

injection into the HPLC.

89

High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) running conditions

The microcystin extracts were analysed by the Surveyor Plus™ modular LC system

and the ChromQuest™ data system, products of Thermo Fisher Scientific San Jose,

on a 150 × 4.6 mm, 5 μm column (waters) at 30 °C with a mobile phase composition

of 60% water+0.1% formic acid and 40% acetonitrile+0.1% formic acid at a flow rate

of 1.0 ml/min. The Surveyor Plus modular LC system consists of the Surveyor LC

Pump Plus, the Surveyor Autosampler Plus, and the Surveyor PDA Plus Detector.

Chromatograms at 238 nm were recorded with the Surveyor PDA plus Detector, and

microcystin were identified by retention time and characteristic UV absorption

spectra (200–300 nm). Quantification was based on external calibrations of

microcystin RR, microcystin LR, microcystin LY and microcystin YR, respectively.

The injections were in triplicate

Determining the composition of cyanobacteria species in the surface water

source

A bench top FlowCAM (Model VS IV) was used to determine the composition of

cyanobacteria species. The FlowCAM was equipped with a blue (488 nm) laser for

florescent and particle detection. For the analysis of cyanobacteria composition in

natural field samples a flow cell (FC300) was used with 4X objective and a cell size

range of 20 to 300 µm. The water samples were transferred to the funnel with a

pipette. The fluorescent particle/cell was digitally acquired and archived by the

FlowCAM for latter processing.

Data analysis

Data information were analysed using Microsoft excel to determine the mean and

standard deviation.

90

Results and discussion

The effects of physico-chemical parameters on cyanobacterial communities

The physical-chemical analysis of the raw water was determined (Table 1). The

range of pH at all the sampling points was in the range of 6.1 to 7.3 which is within

the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) guidelines (DWAF 1996).

Table 1: The physico- chemical characteristic of raw water quality during the study period

Physic chemical parameter

Sample 1

Sample 2

Sample 3

Sample 4

DWAF guidelines

pH 6.8 6.1 6.4 7.3 6.5-8.5

EC µS/cm 69 54 55 513 0-70

TDS (mg/l) 44 35 35 328 0-450

Nitrates (mg/l) 0.13 -- -- -- 0-6

Sulphate (mg/l) 1.52 0.80 0.04 6.46 0-200

Chloride (mg/l) 14.88 12.69 11.44 27.26 0-100

µS/cm: microSiemens/cm

mg/l: milligram per liter

The electrical conductivity (EC) and total dissolved solids (TDS) for samples 1 to 3

was in the range of 54 to 69 µS/cm and 35 to 44 mg/l respectful and this was within

the DWAF guidelines (DWAF, 1996). The EC and TDS for sample 4 were on high

side of the DWAF guidelines. The levels of nitrates, sulphate and chloride were

within the DWAF guidelines (DWAF, 1996). The level of phosphate was not

detected in all the samples sites and nitrates were only found at sample site 1,

Luphephe River. At the environmental conditions, cyanobacteria communities are

likely to bloom as indicated by the study of van Ginkel (2001) showed that an EC

(240 µS/cm) and TDS (160 mg/L) were recorded during a cyanobacterial bloom

91

dominated by Microcystis and Pseudoanabaena in Grootdraai Dam that is situated

north-east of Standerton on the Vaal River, in the Mpumalanga Province, South

Africa. This is also supported by the study of Makhera et al. (2011) who showed

that though the nitrate levels were low but high EC and TDS values may encourage

the growth of cyanobacteria as was found in Luvuvhu river catchment, Limpopo

during the month of August 2009. A study by Oberholster et al. (2009b) on

Nwanedi-Luphephe water sources found low levels of nutrients but the

cyanobacteria were able to strive and survive in such nutrient limited conditions.

The presence and types of microcystin congeners in the water source

The samples were assessed on different microcystin variants such as microcystin

RR, microcystin LR, microcystin YR and microcystin LY (Table 2). The ceramic

water filter was designed to reduce or remove the microcystins in the raw water and

the reduction percentage was above 93% (Table 2). For microcystin RR was not

detected in the raw water sample. There are no official guideline values for

microcystin congeners YR and LY.

Table 2: The level of microcystin congeners (in ppb) in the pool by roadside water source (before filtering) and in the purified water sources (after filtering through the ceramic water filter) Microcystin LR % Reduction

Before After

Ceramic water filter #2* 155.92 8.29 95

Ceramic water filter #16** 155.92 0.00 100

Microcystin YR

Before After

Ceramic water filter #2 245.96 4.79 98

Ceramic water filter #16 245.96 18.44 93

Microcystin LY

Before After

Ceramic water filter #2 369.00 0.00 100

92

Ceramic water filter #16 369.00 0.00 100

* The ceramic water filter #2 was impregnated with silver nanoparticles

** The ceramic water filter # 16 had no silver nanoparticles

Although the ceramic water filters were able to reduce the microcystins in the final

purified water, the microcystin LR was zero ppb (with ceramic water filter #16) and

8.29 ppb (ceramic water filter #2) which is above the WHO (1998) has established a

guideline value of 1.0 ppb for microcystin LR. However further research is required

to understand why the ceramic water with silver there was no 100% removal of the

microcystin congeners. From results shown in Table 2, the raw water samples had

high levels of microcystin-LR which was above WHO guidelines and this may have

an effect on human health. Thus the ceramic water filter was able to reduce

microcystin LR and YR in the water samples. The use of ceramic water filters to

remove/reduce cyanotoxins at household level is a simple water treatment method

and which is affordable. Further studies are also required to understand the role

played, if any, by silver nanoparticles in the reduction of microcystins congeners.

The composition of cyanobacteria communities in the surface water sources

The filamentous algae and filamentous and colonial cyanobacteria were found in the

surface water sources and the physical chemical water qualities of the surface water

sources were favourable for growth of the cyanobacteria (Figure 4). Cyanobacteria

have been known to thrive in limited phosphorus conditions and the nitrogen nutrient

was probably supplied by other filamentous cyanobacteria such as Anabaena spp

(Vahtera et al. 2007). The cyanobacteria species were tentatively identified by

using pictures captured by the Flowcam and then compare with published pictures

available in the literature. In the Luphephe water source (Figure 4a) the

cyanobacteria were identified as Cylindrospermopsis ssp; Lyngbya spp; Anabaena

ssp and Microcystis spp (Cronberg et al. 2004; Huynh and Serediak 2006). In the

Nwanedi water source (Figure 4b) the cyanobacteria were identified as Anabaena

ssp; Cylindrospermopsis spp; Oscillatoria ssp and Microcystis (Cronberg et al. 2004;

Van Vuuren and Kriel 2008). Then downstream of the Nwanedi-Luphephe dams

(Figure 4c) the cyanobacteria were identified as Oscillatoria ssp; Trichodesmium

93

spp; Scenedesmus ssp and Phormidium ssp (Cronberg, et al. 2004). The

filamentous algae and cyanobacteria dominated the water source by the pool (Figure

4d) and were identified as Cylindrospermopsis ssp; Oscillatoria spp; Cladophora ssp

and Anabaena ssp (Cronberg et al., 2004). The filamentous cyanobacteria,

Oscillatoria spp and Anabaena have been linked to the production of microcystins

especially the microcystin congeners LR, YR and LY (Namikoshi and Rinehart

1996). Thus it is possible that the microcystin congeners LR, YR and LY that were

identified in this study originated from these filamentous cyanobacteria. However

further conformation on the identity of cyanobacteria species is in progress using

scanning electron microscopy techniques. The cyanobacteria that were found in

these surface water sources are similar to the study of Oberholster, et al. (2009) on

the Nwanedi-Luphephe water sources.

94

95

Figure 4: (a) Some of the algae and cyanobacteria from the Luphephe water source:

(A) Oscillatoria ssp; (B) Lyngbya spp; (C) Anabaena ssp and (D) Microcystis ssp; (b)

Some of the algae and cyanobacteria from the Nwanedi water source: (A) Anabaena

ssp; (B) Cylindrospermopsis spp; (C) Oscillatoria ssp and (D) Microcystis ssp; (c)

Some of the algae and cyanobacteria from downstream of the Nwanedi-Luphephe

dams: (A) Oscillatoria ssp; (B) Trichodesmium spp; (C) Scenedesmus ssp and (D)

Phormidium ssp and (d) Some of the algae and cyanobacteria from the pool by

roadside water source: (A) Cylindrospermopsis ssp; (B) Oscillatoria spp; (C)

Cladophora ssp and (D) Anabaena ssp. Scale 20µm

Conclusion

The physical chemical analysis of surface water showed that the cyanobacteria were

able strives in limited phosphorus conditions and the nitrogen nutrient was probably

supplied by other filamentous cyanobacteria. The cyanobacteria were tentatively

identified as Oscillatoria ssp; Lyngbya spp; Anabaena ssp; Microcystis ssp;

Cylindrospermopsis spp; Trichodesmium spp; Phormidium ssp and green algae

Scenedesmus ssp and Cladophora ssp. The microcystin congeners LR, YR and LY,

were found in the pool by roadside were probably produced by the filamentous

cyanobacteria, Oscillatoria and Anabaena spp. This water source was then filtered

through a ceramic water filters in order to reduce the levels of microcystins. The

ceramic water filters were able to reduce the microcystin congeners in the final

purified waters. However the use of ceramic water filters should be promoted for

possible use in households facing raw water containing microcystins.

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the purchase of the research equipment, Flowcam,

with funding from the Department of Science & Technology and National Research

Fund (UID 74406) and the University of Venda. The maintenance of the research

equipment through the TESP (Eskom) funds (E320). The entire project was funded

by the Department of Research & Innovation (I387 and IP60).

96

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The Value of IKS in Higher Education in the 21st Century

Yonah Ngalaba Seleti

Abstract

The paper states the case for the value-add of indigenous knowledge systems to the

higher education sector in South Africa. It communicates the value of IKS from

multiple perspectives, beginning with the political imperatives of redress, by valuing

the contribution of IKS as a knowledge domain to cognitive justice. The paper is

premised on the understanding that to date, higher education reform in the country

has not been transformative. Nor has that process developed a solid foundation for

transformation. In looking for agency for change, the paper notes that to a large

extent, neither academic staff nor students have demanded that higher education

content and process be assessed critically, nor have new directions been proposed.

Key Words: Indigenous knowledge systems, marginalisation, decolonisation,

transformation, epistemology, cognitive justice.

Introduction

The twentieth anniversary of South Africa‟s democracy is a timely opportunity to

reflect on two decades of policy-making and policy implementation aimed at

transforming South African higher education. This paper will assess how higher

Education has interacted with the IKS policy adopted by the South African

Cabinet in 2004 and the changes that have occurred during the past decade. I

argue that attempts at transforming higher education in South Africa have not

challenged the dominance of Western knowledge and ways of knowing as „truth

regimes‟. Higher education has privileged Western knowledge and science as

dominant modes of thought that continue to disparage and denigrate other ways

of knowing. The result of this over the decades has been the silencing and

Yonah Ngalaba Seleti is currently serving as Chief Director; Science Missions at the Department of Science and Technology and is also a fellow of the African Renaissance Institute at UNISA. The views expressed in this paper are personal and do not reflect the policy positions of the Department of Science and Technology.

107

conquering of other voices or ways of knowing and given effect to what has

come to be known as „cognitive injustice‟ as the hallmark of South African

higher education. It is notable that beginning with the White Paper on Higher

Education (1997), the transformation of the curriculum and knowledge-based

higher education was not on the radar. The White Paper stipulates that higher

education in a knowledge-driven world must fulfil three important roles:

• Human resource development: the mobilisation of human talent and potential

through lifelong learning is to contribute to the social, economic, cultural and

intellectual life of a rapidly changing society.

• High level skills training: the training and provision of person power to

strengthen this country‟s enterprises, services and infrastructure. This

requires the development of professionals and knowledge workers with

globally equivalent skills, but who are socially responsible and conscious of

their role in contributing to the national development effort and social

transformation.

• Production, acquisition and application of new knowledge: national growth

and competitiveness is dependent on continuous technological improvement

and innovation, driven by a well organised, vibrant research and

development system that integrates the research and training capacity of

higher education with the needs of industry and of social reconstruction.

(DoE 1997)

In reviewing the challenges facing South African higher education at the dawn of

freedom, Pityana (2004) stated:

The new government came in with an agenda of change and transformation. It was reshaping South African society and constructing a new vision. Without any doubt, universities were key instruments in this agenda for change. They would be the ones where the new democracy‟s idealism found expression, its leaders trained and its ideas formed. And yet the system that was inherited was inherently unequal, in many respects its academic input outdated and not in step with the emerging ideas in the democratic South Africa, its research culture incompatible with the progressive agenda of the new South Africa and the culture of the academic environment alienating to a large majority of South Africans, black and white. And so the policy approach had to be both about dealing with the legacy of the past and yet shaping and preparing South African universities to embrace the future in a global world.

The transition to majority rule mentioned by Pityana, required South Africa‟s

education system to address two major transformations. One was to transform a

system organized by race into a system in which race was no longer a consequential

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criterion for selection, promotion, and academic success. The other was to

transform a system designed to educate a small elite into a system that could

provide quality education to all South Africans. According to Samoff (2008) the two

transformations are intertwined; both remain incomplete and both are at risk. In

problematising the role of higher education in the reconstruction and transformation

agenda in South Africa, the interrogation of the constituent elements of the

knowledge-base inherited from the apartheid era was ignored.

Scholars of change in higher education have noted a period of symbolic policy

development where the new democratic government expected higher education to

engage in voluntary dismantling of the apartheid landscape of higher education and

to embark on the reconfiguration of a new landscape which would allow higher

education to achieve the goals. Owing to the failure by higher education to initial

change that would go beyond the defense of the historical privileges, in 2004 the

government, under the ministerial leadership of Kader Asmal, set out mandatory

restructuring, and the state went about recasting institutions in terms of a

transformation of „fitness of purpose‟ – in other words, examining institutional fitness

in terms of national policy goals, priorities and targets. Followers of change in higher

education would agree that once higher education had grasped this challenge, they

proceeded to formulate visions and missions aligned with transformation goals to

achieve „fitness for purpose‟ – that is, conditions that will allow them to implement

these visions and missions. What is clear is that some of the radical ideas of

„people‟s education‟ with respect to pedagogy and curriculum, and the „political‟

formation of citizens and actors, were displaced by other discourses that

emphasised skilling and training for the requirements of economic growth and

globalisation.

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A decade ago, Jansen (2004) noted the following changes in South African higher

education:

Ten major changes in the higher education system are identified, namely the changing size and shape of the higher education; the changing meaning of autonomy and accountability; the changing nature of higher education providers (private higher education); the changing character of student distribution and characteristics in higher education; the changing organization of university management and governance (new managerialism, councils); the changing roles of student politics and

109

organization; the changing models of delivery in higher education; the changing notion of higher education - between free trade and the public good; the changing value of higher education programmes ( the rise of the economic sciences and the decline of the humanities); and the changing nature of the academic workplace.

It is no secret that the changing landscape in Higher Education might be understood

as outcomes of forces associated with the ascendancy of neoliberal politics and

forces linked to a rapidly changing and globally interconnected world.

As recent as January 2014 Kamal (2014) reporting the launching of the Department

of Higher Education and Training‟s White paper on Post-school education wrote:

The Minister explained that despite 20 years of democracy, the legacy of apartheid continues to impact on the education being disseminated, which in turn impacts on the standard of living for the majority of South Africans. “Most people continue to be poor and the education institutions they attend still bear the marks of former Bantu education”.

Only on 5 March 2014, in a HESA presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Higher

Education and Training, in Cape Town, entitled “South African Higher Education in

the 20th Year of Democracy: Context, Achievements and Key Challenges” was the

need for epistemological transformation identified as a critical issue in higher

education. The presentation cites Du Toit as arguing that “A key challenge at the

heart of higher education transformation in South Africa is engaging effectively with

the historical „legacies of intellectual colonisation and racialization” and patriarchy‟

(HESA 2014). This presentation stresses the significance of higher education

transformation to entail decolonizing, de-racialising, de-masculanising and de-

gendering South African universities, and engaging with ontological and

epistemological issues in all their complexity, including their implications for

research, methodology, scholarship, learning and teaching, curriculum and

pedagogy.

This call by HESA requires the creating of institutional cultures that genuinely

respect and appreciate difference and diversity – whether along the lines of class,

gender, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, linguistic backgrounds, or

epistemological or methodological orientations. It would also involve creating spaces

for the flowering of epistemologies, ontologies, theories, methodologies, objects and

questions, other than those that have long been hegemonic in intellectual and

110

scholarly thought and writing in the universities. The presentation to the Portfolio

Committee on higher education invoked Mamdani‟s argument that, “the central

question facing higher education in Africa today is what it means to teach the

humanities and social sciences in the current historical context and, in particular, in

the post-colonial African context” (HESA 2014) It also alluded to his question of

what it means to teach “in a location where the dominant intellectual paradigms are

products not of Africa‟s own experience but of a particular Western experience”

(Mamdani 2011).

Challenging the hegemonic knowledge agenda It is notable that HESA chose to include the marginalisation of other epistemologies

and ontologies from the mainstream discourses as one of the six challenges facing

higher education. It is about time that the constituent element of the hegemonic

knowledge regime that has been the centre piece of Western acculturation is

questioned from inside of academia. The other challenges discussed at the Portfolio

Committee are as follows:

(i) Student access, opportunity and success: Expansion and greater equity, low participation, high attrition and low completion, and variable quality.

(ii) Research and postgraduate education: expansion and greater equity, low participation and graduations, and possible stasis.

(iii) Securing the next generations of academics: strong consensus, clear development programme, lack of state funding.

(iv) The higher education institutional landscape: de facto differentiation and diversity yet not fully settled policy.

(v) The challenge of funding of Higher Education.

What the HESA presentation brings to the fore is that questions of social exclusion

and inclusion in South African higher education extend well beyond issues of

access, opportunity and success. The HESA report raised fundamental questions

and it is worth sharing some of them to anticipate the discussion on how the

interfacing of IKS in higher education will answer some of them. The critical

questions raised by the report include issues of institutional and academic cultures,

and largely ignored epistemological and ontological issues associated with learning

and teaching, curriculum development and pedagogical practice. Below are some

of these questions:

111

(i) How have the dominant discourses that characterise the intellectual space of higher education developed and been reproduced historically?

(ii) What are the implications of the dominant discourses for social inclusion and social justice in higher education, for the affirmation and promotion of human dignity and rights, social cohesion and respect for difference and diversity?

(iii) What are the prevailing conceptions of epistemology and ontology and to what extent have these been or are being deracialised, degendered and decolonised. ?

(iv) There is frequent reference to providing students with „epistemological access‟ rather than just physical access, but to which epistemologies?

(v) How do the dominant cultures of higher education affect student learning, progress and success and social equity and redress?

(vi) Similarly, how do these dominant cultures also affect the development and retention of the next generations of academics that must, in the light of historical and current inequalities, be increasingly women and black?

(vii) Finally, how permeable is the currently constructed social space of higher education to a critical reflexivity, learning and innovation and institutional change? (HESA 2014)

The focus of this paper is to present the value of IKS to higher education. It has

certainly been long coming that one day, the political renaissance that had gripped

the country beginning with the Mbeki regime will be taken seriously by higher

education. Hopefully, Higher Education South Africa (HESA), the voice of South

Africa‟s university leadership, representing twenty three Vice Chancellors of public

universities, will lead the transformation of the knowledge agenda of universities.

I am under no illusion that by addressing the value of indigenous knowledge systems

to higher education and identifying this paper as a contribution to one of the

challenges that HESA considers being an urgent priority to be addressed, that this

paper will draw an enthusiastic following to its clarion call. There are many

academic, strategic and political reasons for this cautious optimism to the advocacy

and promotion of the value of IKS in higher education. Firstly, it has been ten years

to date since the adoption of IKS Policy by the South African Cabinet and since then

very little uptake by universities has been done on a voluntary basis. It should be

obvious that the universities have not yet identified the value of IKS to their enterprise

or they are so implicated in the colonial business of intellectual dependency of

Western fonts of knowledge that they are content with playing a second fiddle in

pursuing a knowledge agenda that is based on the Western experience.

In March 2014, I was at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in

Geneva negotiating on behalf of South Africa, a legal international instrument for the

effective protection of traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions. The

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Western countries‟ delegates have banded together to question even the subject

matter of traditional knowledge. In their perception, they challenge the simple fact

that it is a knowledge that is dynamic and evolving. Furthermore, even the

characteristic of traditional knowledge that it should be acknowledged that it is

created and continues to be created even in the present era is contested. To these

negotiators, the indigenous peoples of the world only hold and maintain this

knowledge. It is unimaginable to think that the negotiators representing great nations

in the production of knowledge should persist in denying the ability of the indigenous

peoples to create knowledge or even to acknowledge the knowledge of indigenous

people as worthy of intellectual value to be protected by the Western intellectual

property rights system. It is now fourteen years since the Intergovernmental

Committee (IGC) on Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore of

WIPO was established and no final instrument is in sight as yet. (What used to be

classified as folklore in cultural and anthropological studies is now referred to as

Traditional Cultural Expressions or TCE‟s). By using this institution of knowledge

governance and denying access to economic and moral rights for IKS and

compensation rights for the illegally accessed IKS, the Western countries continue to

pursue the hegemonic mind-set that insists that only Western knowledge matters in

world affairs.

From a heuristic perspective, I have found that African scholars are the most

impervious to the concept of integrating IKS in the national system of innovation and

more especially in universities. It is unfitting that African scholars who should be

open to defend and advocate epistemic pluralism have become the opposition. They

should show more refexibility because of their daily experience of both worlds, the

professional reality is that they are trained in the knowledge tradition of the Western

world, while on the daily basis they live a nuanced world that is embedded in another

world view that intertwines the spiritual and the physical in a holistic view of the world.

It is equally true that the advocacy for IKS has taken unforeseen dimensions that are

seeing its ranks swell like a social movement. The possibility for this epistemology of

hope to flower lies in the mobilisation of all sectors of society, from the civil society

organisations, through government and the private sector to universities. Knowledge

production is no longer a domain only of universities. Nongovernmental

organisations, civil communities, government departments and the private sectors

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have all become sights of knowledge production. It is in such a fertile, dynamic and

unrestricted nexus/landscape that the roots for a rebirth of the African agency for

change that embracing IKS as one of the foundations of an epistemology of hope will

find tracking.

The making of Western hegemony on the knowledge agenda

In his speech at the conference on Africa Days of the German Federal Ministry of

Education and Research, the former President of the Federal Republic of Germany,

Professor Horst Köhler (2014), observed that “Our definition of Africa can only ever

be partial, our interpretation of Africa can only ever be distorted, and we have no

alternative but to acknowledge that our image of Africa says more about us than it

does about Africa itself”. This view is confirmed by the fact that for the past 500

years, African-based knowledge has been viewed and expressed through the lens of

Western thought, language and perception. As Europe spread its influence across

the globe, it also projected itself as the forerunner of the only knowledge that counted

in the world. The Western world has hence come to see other cultural traditions and

knowledge through the filters of the modern view of the world, their own view of the

world. Colonization deliberately created paradigmatic opposites: traditional versus

modern; oral versus written and printed; literate versus illiterate; rural and agrarian

versus urban and industrialized. In this classification the traditional, oral, illiterate,

rural and agrarian were considered to be inferior and backward and so were their

knowledge and their theories of knowledge. The role of the colonized was consigned

to that of consumers of Western knowledge. Technology and science as perceived

in the Western sense was used as a measure of the level of civilization and the

humanity of the societies that were brought under colonization. This resulted in the

trivialization of the entire mode of life and the spiritual orientation of millions of people

(Seleti 2013)

In recent times, however, in Africa and elsewhere, the quest for self-determination in

British, French, Portuguese and Spanish colonies has focused on political

emancipation. The attainment of political liberation was accompanied by a cultural

renaissance that saw a growth in education and the creation of new universities as

symbols of independence. While these countries invested in education, however,

they did not seek the overthrow of the disenfranchisement that colonialism had

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imposed. They were happy to seek modernization with its accompanying

underpinnings that placed Western knowledge systems as drivers of this

development. For over fifty years, therefore, most African countries have continued

to pursue their dreams of development within the confines of Western theories which

have discounted knowledge from the periphery as of no value.

The pursuit of African development within the parameters of Western dominated

theories has translated into African universities driving a very narrow knowledge

agenda. Kaya and Seleti (2013) argue that despite decades of self-rule, African

scholars have not succeeded in empowering the continent to develop its own

educational theoretical and methodological framework for knowledge production and

sustainable development. There could be several reasons for this, but the paper

argues that one of the key factors is that higher education in Africa has not been

relevant to the needs and concerns of African societies. This is in spite of the

substantial resources expended to boost higher education in Africa and South Africa

(Kaya and Seleti 2013). The intellectual dependence of African scholarship extends

to the reliance on Western publishing houses for publishing their academic works. It

is thus not surprising that publications by African scholars are judged to be

acceptable only when they meet standards set by the Western press. This has

meant that fewer African scholars have succeeded in publishing in the Western

presses and this has resulted in the situation where African universities are net

importers and consumers of Western published knowledge. We have become a

continent of net importers of foreign knowledge to fix the African condition

The major feature of African countries (including South Africa) is the concentration of

the knowledge sector on distribution of knowledge products at the expense of the

production of relevant knowledge products. Even the universities that boast of in-

house publishing houses continue to use standards of relevance and scholarship

that do little to create their own context-based and relevant publication standards. It

has also become apparent that since most knowledge products are to meet foreign

standards, the knowledge produced in the African context demonstrates weak

linkages between the creators of knowledge products and the consumers. The

issues of relevance of the knowledge produced is in high jeopardy and does not

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surprise the impact of the knowledge sectors on reducing poverty in rural African has

been little than impressive. Higher education in much of Africa has concerned itself

with inculcating a theoretical knowledge at the expense of community engagement

and this has lent opportunities for criticism for making higher education in the

continent distant from community concerns, and for producing graduates who tend to

be inadequate and insensitive to the developmental challenges of their local

communities and country (Muya 2007). This point of separating the needs of the

communities from the university curriculum has resulted in situations where

universities are often neighbours of squatter compounds with appalling conditions.

The question that remains to be answered is how these institutions of higher learning

have made the appalling conditions in their neighbourhoods a part of their education

and interventions, as they seek to improve the quality of lives of their neighbours.

What then is the relevance of these institutions if they cannot even indulge in finding

solutions to the local problems? While the World Bank has, over the years, slowly

come to realize the importance of the integration of local knowledge as an ingredient

to finding solutions to local problems, our universities are oblivious to the knowledge

resources embedded in their neighbouring poor communities (Gorjestani 2000). A

significant challenge for higher education is how to shift the current concentration on

the reproduction, distribution and coordination of external knowledge to a focus on

the production of relevant and context-bound knowledge.

The Quest for IKS and democratic politics

At the global level of knowledge production, the work of Michel Foucault and

Jacques Derrida sparked a movement that allowed for the emergence of a new

moral and cognitive space within which constructive dialogue between people and

between knowledge systems could occur. For Thomas Kuhn (1962), science is not

an evolutionary, progressive march towards greater and greater truth, but rather "a

series of peaceful interludes punctuated by intellectually violent revolutions" in which

one point of view is replaced by another.

The quest for the recognition of the role of indigenous knowledge in the knowledge

sector in South Africa did not arise from the universities or science councils. In fact,

the articulation of the African Renaissance and New Partnership for Africa‟s

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Development created a space for a search for an African rationale for an African-

centred initiative. In South Africa, the birthing of IKS emerged outside the leading

academic institutions. It was a product of intellectual activism and political elites in

Parliament. Initially, it was the historically disadvantaged universities – North West

University (Mahikeng Campus) and the University of Venda, who took an active

interest in the promotion of indigenous knowledge (Seleti 2013).

Another contributing factor to the ascendance of IKS in recent years is the

positioning of knowledge as an intrinsic part of democratic politics. In the liberation

struggles against colonialism and apartheid, Africans relied on the knowledge from

within their societies to wage their campaigns. Indigenous knowledge played a

critical role in challenging the knowledge injustices of the past. Knowledge

production, access to knowledge and information and its dissemination and

distribution have become contested issues in modern democracies. Further, the role

of society in raising issues on governance of knowledge - knowledge politics - is on

the rise as civil societies challenge the role of research institutions in setting the

research agenda. Knowledge generators are being challenged to orientate their

contribution to the welfare of local communities.

The increasing involvement of society in requesting accountability from knowledge

producing entities should contribute to the creation of a holistic framework for

societal development. The need for new ethics of knowledge production that takes

cognisance of indigenous concepts of justice should be stressed in this chapter;

otherwise the rising momentum and pressure from below for change could lead to

rendering knowledge producing institutions such as scientific research organisations

less relevant to society. This becomes significant in an environment where

universities may no longer exercise the monopoly of knowledge production.

In South Africa the knowledge agenda, as reflected by the science curricula and

qualifications, continues to mirror Western knowledge systems at the cost of

excluding and marginalizing local or indigenous knowledge. For an inclusive and

democratic knowledge network to emerge within Africa it will require a significant

mind-shift to be in a position to recognize the contribution of other knowledge

systems. Africa‟s knowledge needs must be determined by those who produce it

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and consume it. As Africans, we are seeking our own programmes of renewal and

rebirth by using indigenous knowledge systems for physical, spiritual, psychological,

socio-economic and political well-being. We should guard against the risk of dividing

society that could emanate from the enunciation of African views based on IKS, but

should strive to indicate how IKS can enrich and inform Western science to the

benefit of both worlds.

It was indeed enlightening to listen to Professor Horst Köhler urge two Federal

Republic of Germany government ministries, the Federal Ministry of Education and

Research and the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, to

reconsider the framework for development aid and the knowledge agenda. I wish to

recite some very honest statements on Europe‟s images of Africa that in his view

persist to shape relations between Africa and Europe:

Movies, too, frequently fall back on the clichés of vast plains and spectacular sunsets, reducing Africa to a backdrop for white heartache in which, to quote the US/Nigerian writer UzodinmaIweala, Africans are „used as props in the West‟s fantasy of itself.‟ Iweala‟s great compatriot, Chinua Achebe, warned against seeing Africa solely as the recipient of European projections, as the „setting and backdrop which eliminates the African as a human factor.‟ It is self-evident that we can – and must – break free of these stereotypes of Africa. But are we really able to escape our Eurocentric paradigms? Our definition of Africa can only ever be partial, our interpretation of Africa can only ever be distorted, and we have no alternative but to acknowledge that our image of Africa says more about us than it does about Africa itself. (Köhler 2014)

Köhler (2014) made further observations about the relationship between Europe and

Africa that are so revealing and he exposes the continuing framework of

developmental aid to Africa in higher education and research. He observes that:

There is no escaping the fact that, from a historical perspective, the defining characteristic of Europe‟s relationship with Africa has not been partnership, let alone friendship, but rather objectification. Please don‟t misunderstand me: I am not calling here for self-flagellation by the West nor, perhaps, for guilt and certainly not for a crude allocation of blame in identifying the root causes of Africa‟s current problems. No, what I am calling for is an awareness of our shared, fraught history and awareness of the possibility that many colonial and post-colonial attitudes persist to this day, sometimes latent and unsuspected but sometimes quite overtly. Have we really moved on from perceiving and treating Africa as an object? Have I moved on from that?

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Köhler‟s speech was chilling and brutal, as he reminded the audience that it

was in that city of Berlin that Africa was parcelled to European countries and

individuals such as King Leopold of Belgium, who acquired a vast area of 2.3

million square kilometres – the Congo – as his personal domain where, it is

estimated, up to 10 million people subsequently lost their lives in one of the

worst crimes against humanity of modern times. Kohler‟s critique of modernity

is echoed by others in the area of knowledge production.

Modernity and its critiques

There is no scarcity of scathing critiques of Western Modern Science and its role in

marginalizing and denigrating IKS. Scholars of indigenous knowledge trace the

subjugation of diverse knowledges through systematic misinterpretation,

misrepresentation and marginalization of IKS to the colonial encounter with

indigenous people. The combination of colonialism, capitalism and modern Western

science has been highlighted as a lethal combination of historical processes in the

expansion of Europe that not only culminated in the colonization and subjugation of

the entire world but also led to the trivialisation of the ways of life of the colonized.

This chapter provides a few examples as illustrative rather than a repetition of the

well-argued critiques of modernity.

A leading critique of modernity, Bruno Latour (1993 translation) in „We have never

been Modern‟, highlights four premises of modernity that have shaped the making of

the modern world, namely:

1. The separation of nature from society by making nature‟s laws above all, we can do nothing about them - they are transcendent.

2. The separation of society from nature by making society totally free, with no unlimited possibilities - immanent.

3. The separation of powers between nature and society - nature will remain without relationship to society.

4. A crossed out God - an arbitration mechanism without a deity (presence of power).

Caution should be exercised when handling Latour‟s discourses, in that his critique

of modernism and also post-modernism is not a wholesome rejection of these ideas

because he recognizes values that must be retained. His caution to the anti-modern

philosophy must be read carefully lest the indigenous knowledge systems paradigm

be lumped in the camp of the anti-modern. IKS does not aspire to replace Western

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based knowledge systems, but wishes to interface with them. IKS scholars should

avoid the tradition of the Africanist school that succeeded in creating mirror images

of the colonial historiography. The Africanist historiography rejected the colonial

history that celebrated Europeans as actors in history and replaced them with African

centred activities with Africans as the heroes (Temu and Swai 1981). The interfacing

of IKS with other knowledge system seeks a mutual respect and reciprocal

recognition of knowledge systems.

The aim of the critique by Latour was to find a third space, where the separation

between human and machines, society and nature come back together in a new

paradigm. Indigenous Knowledge systems offer this holistic conception of

knowledge.

A leading African scholar, Odora Hoppers (2002), in her stringent critique of

modernism summarises the effects it wrought among the subjugated as follows:

• Epistemological disenfranchisement, • Imposition of a Western paradigm that is cruel, blind and has no place for

defeated knowledges or alternative theories of knowledge, • Absence of cognizance and moral sensitivity to local conditions, • Cognitive injustice, • Condescending and paternalist attitudes, • Production of paradigmatic opposites: traditional vs modern; oral vs written

and printed; literate vs illiterate; rural and agrarian vs urban and industrialized, • Trivialization of the entire mode of life and the spiritual framework of the

millions of people.

In his speech on „Impossibilities of speaking of Africa‟, Köhler offers new possibilities

of constructing future relations between Europe and Africa but much more of

constructing a common future that is nuanced, pluralistic and mutually benefiting to

both knowledge systems. This is the way he phrases the possibility, it is a construct

to which this paper aspires:

Can we really imagine an African modernity that is defined not as the culmination of a linear development towards technology-based prosperity measured by GDP – the way in which we in the West understand prosperity – but as something pluralistic, evolving in multiple directions, a juxtaposition of the local and the global, of tradition and innovation – in short, an African modernity sui generis? And then, to go further still, could that perhaps give rise to a concept of development that no longer divides the world into „developing countries‟ and „developed countries‟ but that shows clearly that all societies need to develop and be transformed, regardless of whether they are in the North or the South,

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the East or the West? A new concept of development of this kind oriented to the huge transformation that resource scarcity and climate change are imposing on us all, could then also transform our view of Europe‟s relationship with Africa. We could have a relationship that, for all the existing asymmetries, would facilitate a partnership of equals, free of paternalism and condescension. The question would no longer be just „What can Africa learn from the Europeans?‟ but also „What can Europe learn from the Africans?‟ (Köhler 2014)

Speaking about an African modernity sui generis, meaning a modernity of a special

kind, an African modernity based on Africa‟s peculiarity and its contribution to the

world. It is important that we reject from the beginning the definition of modernity as

a form of social life determined by a unitary Weberian rationality. Instead, we agree

with de Jong (2007) that modernity is a hegemonic discourse that labels some

privileged societies as modern, while others are represented as fundamentally stuck

in tradition. It is this regard that it is important to make the point made by President

Mbeki in 2002 about the invisibility of the African people in history. While modern

societies are defined by history, traditional societies are deprived of their past. What

is crucial to understand is that while the modern claims to have liberated society from

clutches of tradition, it continues to invent tradition, to depend on it and to define

itself in relation to it. The traditional consequently is part of the modern (Seleti 2014).

Setting the Knowledge Agenda and the Value of IKS to Higher Education

This paper offers an opportunity to position IKS as a knowledge domain that can

help bring into academia pluralistic approaches, evolving in multiple directions, a

juxtaposition of the local and the global, of tradition and innovation – in short, an

African modernity sui generis? In response to the challenge highlighted in the HESA

presentation to the Higher Education Portfolio Committee in the South African

Parliament, namely; the largely ignored epistemological and ontological issues

associated with learning and teaching, curriculum development and pedagogical

practice, IKS may suggest some of the opportunities to bridge the gap.

Humanising the dominant Western knowledge systems

This paper‟s call for the interfacing of IKS with other knowledge systems is based on

the conviction that it can contribute to the humanizing of the Western knowledge

systems. I will shortly show that the interfacing of IKS with other knowledge systems

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is a right step towards the realization of cognitive justice (Shivji 2002). The

integration of IKS in higher education will promote epistemic pluralism which can

only be beneficial to higher education. The holistic approach to knowledge

production and dissemination embedded in IKS has the potential of placing the

human needs at the core of higher education.

In an earlier paper on the value of IKS in the 21st Century, I made a link between

Ubuntu and knowledge generation (Seleti 2013). The paper showed that in African

societies, relationships between people hold pride of place and are best captured by

the African concept of Ubuntu. Ubuntu is the container of the ntu; it carries the life

force of ntu. It carries, depicts, gives, and imparts the life force of ntu. To have

Ubuntu is to be caring, generous, hospitable and compassionate to other humans. It

is always about how you relate to others. Harmony, friendliness and community are

the greatest social good and are celebrated and rewarded in society. On the other

hand, anger, resentment, revenge and success through aggressive competition

corrode this social good and are to be discouraged as they impart negative energy

(Odora Hoppers 2002). Ubuntu does not seek to conquer or debilitate nature, but

rather stresses the interrelatedness and interdependence of all phenomena. In this

context knowledge production, exploitation and dissemination is about building the

collective and communal well-being. Anything that contradicts and works against the

well-being of society may be considered as a negative force, probably the same as

witchcraft. Ubuntu does not seek mastery, certainty and hegemony but rather seeks

harmony, consensus and dignity for all. The outcomes of knowledge production,

exploitation and dissemination should therefore result in a harmonious society based

on consensus and providing dignity for all. Knowledge production underpinned by

this world view strives to create harmony, friendship and interconnectedness

between people and also between different knowledge systems.

It can be argued that in South Africa the knowledge agenda, as reflected by the

science curricula and qualifications, continues to mirror Western knowledge systems

at the cost of excluding and marginalizing local or indigenous knowledge. This paper

maintains that Africa requires a significant mind-shift to be in a position to challenge

the setting of our knowledge agenda simply in terms of our capacity to be integrated

into the global knowledge economy. Higher education in South Africa should not be

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content with a low threshold of acting as merely a supplementary knowledge

producer to the global knowledge system. Africa‟s knowledge needs must be

determined by Africans and produced within the African world views and dreams.

African universities should reconsider the role of playing second fiddle to Western

institutions of knowledge generation.

Complimentary knowledge agenda

The interfacing of IKS in higher education will begin to answer questions on how

South Africa‟s can enter the global knowledge system on its terms rather than in

terms that are laid down by those of the North. IKS will assist higher education to

assume the responsibility for generating knowledge about its context in its quest for

a complimentary knowledge system. The rebirth of the postcolonial societies in

Africa requires a relevant, dynamic and evolving knowledge agenda which would

lead to the inscription of an African modernity driven by an African knowledge

agenda in which IKS would assist in expanding the current ontological and

epistemological base of higher education in South Africa. It will be important for

South African universities and other knowledge intensive institutions in these

postcolonial contexts to begin the processes of re-imagining their role in the making

of an African Modernity, sui generis as depicted by Köhler cited above.

Renewal and Rebirth in Academia

In the new ecosystem of higher education it might be useful to determine what might

be the curriculum project of these universities in these contexts? As Africans, we are

seeking our own programmes of renewal and rebirth by using indigenous knowledge

systems for physical, spiritual, psychological, socio-economic and political well-

being. Here we are not concerned with what knowledge is, which is essentially a

metaphysical question, rather the concern should be with the benefit that society can

derive from knowing. Although the utilitarian end of Knowledge especially the benefit

to the whole of humanity is important, which is this paper‟s emphasis, we do not play

down the importance the normative and intrinsic value of knowledge to society.

Nonetheless, it should be appreciated that Science, engineering and technology,

which are products of knowledge like IKS should aim at the betterment of life for all,

at all costs.

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The interfacing of IKS with other knowledge systems in higher education will

significantly lead to the pluralistic approaches in the programme offering. One of the

main contributions of IKS is that it will proffer an epistemology of hope to humankind

that acknowledges cognitive flexibility. It should be stressed that the value of IKS to

the modern Western knowledge systems is that IKS promotes the acceptance of

multiple truths or knowledges and rejects the projection of Western modern

knowledge as the only universal truth (Odora Hoppers 2011).

Promotion of Multiple mental and pedagogical Representations

It is also useful to argue that the interfacing of IKS in higher education will promote

the use of multiple mental and pedagogical representations of the reality that will not

certainly culminate in one truth but will give result to multiple truths. At the centre of

this approach is the promotion of multiple alternative interpretations when they are

allowed to interact would translate into multiple interconnectedness between

knowledge systems, all to the benefit of humankind. By integrating IKS into South

African education it will become a humanizing agent that will complement the

cosmopolitanism of universities. The value of IKS is that it takes cognizance of

moral sensitivity to local conditions. It also calls for a rethinking of the modern

science and technology through enlargement by integration of IKS in the twenty first

century (Odora Hoppers 2011).

Contribution of IKS to Community Engagement Missions

Another dimension of the value of IKS to higher education is in the area of providing

a bridgehead for community engagement mission of the universities. Most

universities‟ mission statements identify community service as part of the universally

recognised functions of a modern university, namely teaching, research and

community engagement. Gerda Bender has questioned whether higher education

institutions in South Africa are committed to curricular community engagement and

whether these higher education institutions have changed from a philanthropic or

community service orientation to a scholarship of engagement. (Bender 2007) In as

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much as Academic Service Learning (ASL) has been singled out as an appropriate

educational philosophy, which is a vehicle for change in curriculum-related

community engagement at higher education institutions in South Africa, the extent of

its embeddedness in academic cultures and programmes as a vehicle for change is

still circumscribed by its approach that is still anchored on philanthropic and

community service discourses. In this regard IKS offers a marvellous platform for

community engagement from a perspective of scholarship of engagement. IKS led

community engagement recognises the wealth of knowledge assets embedded in

those communities and seeks ways of integrating such in the main stream of

education. It seeks to make the communities as the laboratories for both theoretical

and experiential knowledge generation.

The Department of Science and Technology working together with the South African

Qualification Authority (SAQA), the Universities of North West (Maheking), Venda

and Limpopo have introduced a Bachelor of indigenous knowledge systems and

made ASL an integral part of the qualification. By institutionalising ASL through a

final year programme of practical work based in communities, the BIKS has

transformed the relations of knowledge production where the barefoot organic

intellectuals in the village become professors and supervisors of the students.

These barefoot professors together with the students design research projects based

on the communities‟ needs. In this project the university locates its sites of

knowledge production within the community, the university become part of the

village. The relevance of higher education to the communities cannot be more

apparent than this. The programme also allows the university professors to interact

with their students in the field and hence this bridges the theoretical with the

experiential. Through offering the BIKS these universities‟ research, teaching and

community engagement programmes will have institutionalised ASL and made the

curriculum responsive to the community needs.

IKS and the Creation of inter-disciplinary discursive spaces

Another way of valuation of IKS to higher education is that it contributes to creating

discursive spaces within the academy that transcend disciplinary boundaries, where

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the commonality underpinning the collective is a shared identity as professional

educators, rather than the separate disciplinary identities that more often underpin

working groups of academics. Cecelia Jacobs (2008) emphasises the importance of

creating trans-disciplinary discursive spaces within higher education that would

enable academics to reconfigure how they construct their roles and identities within

higher education institutions. Everard Weber summarises the significant findings of

Cecilia Jacobs‟ study as follows:

The study shows that three factors and associated processes, namely transdisciplinary engagement, collaborative interactions, and academic identity construction, are key in the change process. The findings further suggest that discursive spaces in higher education need to provide both „iziko‟ (a physical space around which „academic‟ communities can gather) and „eziko‟ (processes through which „academic‟ communities provide nourishment, sustenance and shared learning through dialogue with one another). „Eziko‟ characterises the spirit of connectedness, humility, and respect that should underpin the interaction of diverse and often dissonant disciplinary perspectives that occur when academics across disciplines make collective meaning of change (Weber 2008).

Two examples relating to the implementation of the IKS programme at Walter Sisulu

and KwaZulu-Natal universities present the value of IKS in the creation of the

discursive spaces and meeting the criteria enunciated in the above quotation. The

University of KwaZulu-Natal is the first university in South Africa to dedicate its

financial resources to the development of an IKS portfolio across the entire

university. Owing to the priority placed on the initiative Professor Hassan Kaya was

employed in 2012 to drive the development and coordinate IKS curricula activities in

all the schools. The strategy adopted was the search for IKS champions in each

school with the responsibility of mobilising colleagues and coordinating academic

inputs at the school level. With the support of the Deputy Vice Chancellors for

Research development, Professor Nelson Ijumba and Professor RenukaVittal,

responsible for teaching and learning, they have created an annual forum for the

inter-disciplinary engagement. Better still, the champions from the schools

constituted an inter-disciplinary steering committee to develop IKS based curriculum

for post graduate studies and teaching and learning programmes. I was invited to

participate in the development of the first Institutional IKS policy in the country.

There is no doubt that the University of KwaZulu-Natal has succeeded to mobilise

towards the creation of sustainable „iziko‟ that cut across disciplinary boundaries,

and for academics to become the architects of „eziko‟ which enable them to explore

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change collectively and individually through the development of shared meaning.

The success of this approach validated by the fact in March 2014, the University

KwaZulu-Natal Council approved the institutional IKS policy making it the first

university in sub-Sahara Africa, if not globally, to have an institutional IKS that

position IKS as one of the strategic flagships.

Professor Nomalungelo Goduka, the South African Research Chair in Systemising

Indigenous Knowledge Systems at the Walter Sisulu University, has taken the

creation of discursive spaces of Eziko and Iziko to an inter-university level. She has

mobilised scholars from South African universities to write an anthology with the

following purpose:

The purpose of EzikosiPhekasiSophula Vol.1 is to create spaces for indigenous scholars/researchers to re-claim, re-discover and restore indigenous identities, voices, realities and knowledge systems that were part of the colonizing agenda. EZiko is neither tied to race, ethnicity nor a specific geographical location. It is about articulating spaces/processes rooted in specific African/indigenous worldviews, and philosophical assumptions for collective and communal affirmation and validation of ethnic/cultural identities, voices and new knowledge co-created around eZiko (Goduka 2013).

Goduka has brought these scholars to produce Volume I of the anthology mainly

intended for university students in natural, social sciences, and humanities working

with indigenous knowledge for learning and conducting culturally sensitive research.

The three retreats hitherto and the anthology aim therefore to create a discursive

space for transdisciplinary engagement, collaborative interactions, and academic

identity construction.

Lifting the bar to complexity theories of education In contrast to the reductionist thinking this paper has identified IKS with complexity

theories of knowledge by indication that IK as a system is an integrated whole,

whose properties cannot be reduced to the sum of its parts. Indigenous peoples

have grown to understand that all phenomena are interrelated yet independent and

that each system forms part of a larger system, yet each has its own individual

properties. This is the idea of systems being nested or arranged in a hierarchy. IKS

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is thus an embedded knowledge, interdisciplinary that celebrates the

interrelatedness of all knowledge including things living and inanimate.

The idea of a knowledge ecosystems system can also be a goal towards which we

can plan and work, recognising the fragmentation that exists, while espousing the

ideal of a whole in which component parts interact with one another in a purposeful

coordinated way. The concept of a knowledge systems ecosystem would capture

diversity and complexity, and the idea of interaction between the system (or

organism in ecological terms) and its environment. A knowledge ecosystem is one

in which the sub-systems are inter-linked and interdependent, where there is

continuous co-evolution, where change is systemic and where complementarities

encourages niches for different roles and functions (Nardi and O‟Day 1999). It is

also characterised by interactions of “actors and organisations linked by flows of

resources and information” (Mars, Bronstein and Lusch 2012: p.277).

This paper has thus called for reciprocity and co-existence - between knowledge

systems. It is hoped that this paper has highlighted the need for building fraternity

between knowledge systems at the cognitive level. The value of this approach will

culminate in an inclusive citizenship of knowledge characterized by cognitive justice -

the right of different knowledges to survive to the benefit of humankind.

IKS and Science Communication

IKS provides an opportunity to embed local and indigenous knowledge in the

dominant Western paradigms and creates multidisciplinary dialogue on public

engagement on science. This approach will ensure that local and indigenous

knowledge from the grassroots‟ level is mainstreamed while on the other hand,

providing structures for the local absorption and understanding of global science

local communities. It is pleasing to note that although Western science rejects local

knowledge that develops differently from knowledge applying scientific methods, it

does now acknowledge some of indigenous knowledge components, such as

knowledge of plants and traditional medicines. Indigenous knowledge adds another

layer to the complexity of science communication.

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Despite its different epistemology and characteristics, indigenous knowledge may

promote the public's understanding of science and the holistic-systemic view applied.

In this context, the weaving and packaging of content is directed to benefit all of

society as it engages all ages from parents to children as learners; from workers as

active citizenry to scientist as purveyors of knowledge; from the local and indigenous

communities to the private sector; from nanotechnology and biotechnology to IKS,

and from the laboratories to the science centers, expos, science fests, media, and so

on. Clearly, this is a complex process which will require utilisation of communication

science and communication technology, and not withstanding indigenous

approaches and ethics underpinning public engagements and understanding of

science.

Over the years Science Communication at the DST has taken the necessary steps of

interfacing IKS with the mainstream science. The Youth into Science Policy that has

promoted the National Science Week provided a partnership on the inclusion of IKS a

building block of the National Science Week. There is no doubt that many parents,

learners, educationist and scientist were challenged by the integration of IKS in the

National Science Week. In addition to the participation of IKS as part of the National

Science the National Indigenous Knowledge Systems office launched the Annual IKS

expos. The expos targeted the knowledge holders and practitioners from indigenous

and local communities to display their IKS products. Hitherto Department hosted four

provincial IKS Expos in Gauteng, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and in North West. In

2014 the DST together with the Botswana government organised the first regional

SADC IKS Expo and Policy Workshop in Gaborone. It is hoped that the quest for

effective science communication would result into a global IKS Expos to heighten the

global nature of IKS as part of the global science.

Promotion of Cognitive Justice

The notion that different forms of knowledge or their knowers should be treated as

equal is a provocative proposal in terms of the method of Science that has

dominated higher education in South Africa. The proposition advance here is that by

interfacing IKS in higher education dominated by Western science we will be

promoting cognitive justice. It will be a step towards building a fraternity between

knowledge systems at the cognitive level. Higher education in South African needs

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to accord the right of different knowledges to survive to the benefit of humankind.

Cognitive justice asserts the diversity of knowledges and the equality of knowers.

Visvanathan, a leading architect of the concept of cognitive justice argues that the

impact of post-Second World War science on third world countries should be

characterised as the museumisation of indigenous knowledge and scientific

endeavour. “It entails the relegation of indigenous knowledge forms as obsolete

artefact, useful only for historical display” (Shiv 1999).

Visvanathan (1999) argues that romantic or revivalist ideas of a return to indigenous

and traditional knowledge and solutions are unrealistic in the “political and economic

onslaught of globalisation”. The solution, he argues, lies in a political economy and

cosmology based on the following principles of cognitive justice:

All forms of knowledge are valid and should co-exist in a dialogic relationship to each other.

Cognitive justice implies the strengthening of the 'voice' of the defeated and marginalised.

Traditional knowledges and technologies should not be 'museumized'.

Every citizen is a scientist. Each layperson is an expert.

Science should help the common man/woman.

All competing sciences should be brought together into a positive heuristic for dialogue. (Velden 2006)

The confrontation of Science by traditional, indigenous, and local knowledges will

result in more comprehensive dialogues on sustainable and peaceful development.

Cognitive justice offers us the option for a pluralist and inclusive knowledge base

from which we can draw our plans for building a better world. The advent of IKS will

contribute to the emancipation of the African voice in academia where every citizen

is a scientist and each layperson is an expert. The interfacing of IKS not only does it

speak to enhancing the value of science, but also promotes the transformation of the

knowledge sector from clutches of Western situated knowledge.

Conclusions

The paper states the case for the value-add of indigenous knowledge systems to the

higher education sector in South Africa. It postulates the post-colonial knowledge

agenda of South Africa has not taken the contribution of indigenous knowledge

seriously. The paper argues that notwithstanding the academic merits of the value

of IKS to higher education, very few South African universities have invested their

130

own resources in IKS teaching, research and community engagement. The paper

also notes that the knowledge governance level only one South African university

has an institutional IKS policy that position IKs as part of the strategic priorities of the

institution. The paper communicates the value of IKS from multiple perspectives

beginning with the political imperatives of redress by valuing the contribution of IKS

as a knowledge domain to cognitive justice. The paper is premised on the

understanding that to date, higher education reform has not been transformative.

Nor has that process developed a solid foundation for transformation. In looking for

agency for change the paper notes that neither the academic staff nor students have

demanded that higher education content and process be assessed critically or

proposed new directions. In assessing the value of IKS to higher education, the

dilemma is that it has not been led by academia but rather it was kick-started by the

political elites and policy makers who are far removed from the terrain where the

change is needed.

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